Virginia Man Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Selling Counterfeit Software
Through the Internet
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Gregory William Fair, 46, of
Falls Church, Va., was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for selling
counterfeit computer software on the Internet, in violation of criminal
copyright infringement laws, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A.
Breuer of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of
Columbia Channing D. Phillips.
Fair was also sentenced by Judge R.W. Roberts in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia to three years of supervised release and was ordered
to pay $743,098 in restitution. Fair forfeited $144,000 in currency seized
from a safety deposit box and residence, one BMW 525i, one Hummer H2, one
Mercedes CL600 and one 1969 Pontiac GTO, all of which were purchased with the
illegal proceeds of the scheme.
Fair pleaded guilty on April 16, 2009, to one count of criminal copyright
infringement and one count of mail fraud for selling pirated business software
on the eBay Web site. According to court documents, the software sold by Fair
had a combined retail value of more than $1 million. In his plea, Fair
admitted that from 2001 through 2007, he used a variety of eBay user
identifications to sell a large volume of counterfeit software without
authorization from the copyright owners.
The case is part of the Department of Justice's ongoing initiative to combat
the sale of pirated software and counterfeit goods through commercial Web
sites and online auction sites. To date, the Department has obtained 39
convictions involving online auction and commercial distribution of
counterfeit software. The Department's initiative to combat online auction
piracy is just one of several steps being undertaken to address the losses
caused by intellectual property theft and hold responsible those engaged in
criminal copyright infringement.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Marc Miller of the Criminal
Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section as well as
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Hibarger and Glenn S. Leon of the District of
Columbia. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in
Washington, D.C.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2008, TDD +1-202-514-1888
