The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) extended their online software Anti-Piracy Campaign today with what they are saying are the first-ever lawsuits against sellers on Amazon.com and iOffer.com.
In a press release released today (PDF), the SIAA announced the filing of eight new lawsuits against illegal software sellers. The new round includes SIIA’s first-ever lawsuits against illegal software sellers on Amazon.com and iOffer.com. These latest actions bring the total number of online auction site lawsuits the SIIA has filed this year on behalf of its member companies to 40.
“In the current economic climate, when consumer confidence is already low, it is essential that consumers are able to purchase software online knowing that it is legal and will function properly. Illegal sellers tempt consumers with low prices, but the software often doesn’t work and, of course, comes without the full range of customer support offered by manufacturers,” said Keith Kupferschmid, SIIA SVP of Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement.
“The new lawsuits are part of SIIA’s continued aggressive pursuit of online software pirates through both the civil and criminal processes,” Kupferschmid said. “We are sending a clear message about the lengths to which we will go to protect our member companies, unsuspecting consumers and legitimate software vendors.”
Earlier this year we reported that the SIAA had filed a total of 32 lawsuits against eBay sellers accused of selling counterfeit or pirated software. Scott Bain, SIIA's litigation counsel, has said several of those defendants have settled the cases, with many paying as much as five figure penalties.
Today's lawsuits charged all of the following with knowingly selling software, including Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Acrobat 8.0, illegally on auction sites eBay, Amazon.com, and iOffer:
Darwin Mieles, Miami, FL (Seller ID: “dm42017”); Aiden O’Connors, Santa Cruz, CA
(Seller ID: “blackwolfblooks”); La’Kieta Prosper, Orlando, FL (Seller ID: “lakieta”);
Adrian Garibaldi, Carrollton, TX (Seller ID: “abtechnology”); Manual Marmoletos, New
York, NY (Seller ID: “marmomn”); Randy Peek, Toledo, OH (Seller ID: “randy4112”);
Tony Kornrumpf, Lookout Mountain, TN (Seller ID: “cyberpcs”); and an unnamed seller
from Los Angeles, CA (Seller ID: “topsoftware1”).
In some cases, the software is counterfeit, and in other cases, sellers are selling software packaged for educational or OEM (original equipment manufacturer) use to other buyers.
I have alerted Amazon today about sellers pirating DVDs and CDS I have received (didnt know at first). It was obvious today when the seller put a photocopied WRONG Cd cover and, as usual, no original print-copy on the CD itself.... if they refuse to do something, I will be irate. I am a direct witness and am scanning and taking pictures of said item ....How can they NOT police their own sellers? This is Amazons job !!! spanishdirectory at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeletePhotocopied CD covers, wow that would be a pretty dead give away. I think it would be pretty hard for Amazon not to follow-up in a case like this.
ReplyDelete"How can they NOT police their own sellers?"
Well to play devils advocate, if users don't report the violations then there really isn't anyway for Amazon to police bad sellers. They are the middle man and don't see the merchandise or deal with the seller in any way.
In this case obviously you have reported them, however I've seen many cases where people didn't want to bother with it. eBay is a great example of that, buyers figure they won't get their money back or figure it won't be worth their time and hassle to deal with. So bad sellers go unchecked.
I have many buying books I have authored and jacking up the prices $ 150 - $ 300. I doubt they will buy any book for that much but they are doing it anyway. I have contacted them to stop and my legal department is looking into some sort of fraud charges. This is BULLSHIT !
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