Author Topic: German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud  (Read 1389 times)

Zombie9920

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"From reuters"

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man was jailed for five and a half years Thursday for repackaging cheap versions of Microsoft Corp. software and selling them on at a higher price.
Ralph Blasek, a software dealer from Willich, near Bochum in western Germany, was found guilty of repackaging more than 32,000 copies of software products meant for schools and colleges, a Bochum court spokesman said.

He sold them on through his firm, Dino-Soft, defrauding the world's No. 1 software maker of some 4.5 million euros ($5.53 million), the spokesman said.

Prosecutors had demanded a prison term of six years.

Blasek, a father of three, lived a luxurious lifestyle, owning properties around the world as well as Rolls Royce and Bugatti cars, the spokesman said.

Microsoft, which helped the German authorities during the investigation and 10-week trial, said in a statement Blasek was the suspected leader of Europe's largest known software counterfeiting network.

"We applaud the decision as software counterfeiting is a serious crime. It undercuts honest competitors as well as robbing the local economy of thousands of jobs and vital revenue each year," said Beatrice Delmas, director of Microsoft legal and corporate affairs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"We see this as a signal that governments globally are getting tougher on software crime," she added.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=5745984

Refalm

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #1 on: 23 July 2004, 11:43 »
Wow, that's a really smart idea. Too bad for him he got too money hungry and kept on selling enough for the police to notice it.

cahult

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #2 on: 23 July 2004, 20:47 »
Is 5 million really something to make such a big deal about? I actually don
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xyle_one

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #3 on: 23 July 2004, 22:56 »
What he did was illegal. He should go to jail. Just because it's Microsoft, doesn't mean its okay to pirate their software.

WMD

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #4 on: 23 July 2004, 23:37 »
Well, he really didn't pirate the software.  He took education licenses and sold them at the price of regular ones.  That's licensing fraud.
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xyle_one

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #5 on: 24 July 2004, 01:00 »
Oh. Well. He still broke the law  ;)

Stilly

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #6 on: 24 July 2004, 03:51 »
whos law?

your law or mine, sucker

on a serious note, the guy had it coming
just say know

KernelPanic

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #7 on: 24 July 2004, 04:39 »
Guy broke law.
Guy went to court.
Guy sentenced to punishment under his country's laws.

I see no problem here!
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Claris

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #8 on: 24 July 2004, 21:06 »
Meh, MS can patent something to make up for it.
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TheQuirk

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #9 on: 25 July 2004, 11:20 »
Or be idle for a few minutes and make the money back.  ;)

solarismka

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #10 on: 27 July 2004, 05:13 »
I see nothing wrong here.  M$ is scheep software to begin with and even the 'education' specials are over sold at a high price.

If this guy has got six years for justy reselling bad software at a higher price then billy boy should get life.

Oh thats right.  So long as its Microsoft then its ok.

[ July 26, 2004: Message edited by: kn0wn ]

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Talium

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #11 on: 16 August 2004, 21:41 »
He broke the law but I think 5 years is a bit to long.

hm_murdock

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #12 on: 17 August 2004, 02:46 »
What I find funny is that you're now breaking a law if you sell things at a different price other than MSRP.

Goodbye small business. Gone are the days when you were allowed to buy a product and sell it on your own terms.

And if you sell the stuff, then you're "committing fraud".

I should push to have fraud laws re-written. The only people that can commit fraud are businesses. Regular people can't.

The law would penalize those who defraud consumers. It wouldn't be against the law to defraud a business. They can afford it.
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Canadian Lover

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #13 on: 17 August 2004, 03:07 »
quote:
Originally posted by kn0wn:
I see nothing wrong here.  M$ is scheep software to begin with and even the 'education' specials are over sold at a high price.

If this guy has got six years for justy reselling bad software at a higher price then billy boy should get life.

Oh thats right.  So long as its Microsoft then its ok.

[ July 26, 2004: Message edited by: kn0wn ]


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Orethrius

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German man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for Microsoft Fraud
« Reply #14 on: 17 August 2004, 08:09 »
quote:
Originally posted by JimmyJames: GenSTEP Founder:
What I find funny is that you're now breaking a law if you sell things at a different price other than MSRP.

Goodbye small business. Gone are the days when you were allowed to buy a product and sell it on your own terms.

And if you sell the stuff, then you're "committing fraud".

I should push to have fraud laws re-written. The only people that can commit fraud are businesses. Regular people can't.

The law would penalize those who defraud consumers. It wouldn't be against the law to defraud a business. They can afford it.



This is all happening *in Germany*.  That being said, is it any wonder now why I.T. is floundering so badly under Schroeder's Reich... erm, I mean, leadership?  Maybe Johannes should tighten his reigns...

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