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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE - May 16, 2001
Software
Pirate Convicted in Federal Court (Washington, DC)
The Software & Information Industry Association
(SIIA) credited the Assistant U.S. Attorney's Office (AUSA)
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) today for the
successful conviction of a software pirate in the Northern
District of Illinois.
The conviction of Christian Morley for conspiracy
to commit copyright infringement brings the criminal case
against the 17-member Pirates With Attitude (PWA) piracy ring
closer to a successful conclusion. In addition to Morley's
conviction, 12 members of PWA have pleaded guilty, one member
is being evaluated for competency to stand trial and two are
fugitives hiding in Europe.
The 14 members found guilty to date are expected
to be sentenced together as early as August.
Morley faces up to five years in prison and
a fine of $250,000.
"Pirates With Attitude is one of the most notorious
copyright infringement rings ever brought to justice," said
Mike Flynn, SIIA Manager of Internet Anti-Piracy. "The Assistant
U.S. Attorney and the FBI deserve strong praise for their
work on behalf of the software industry and other copyright
holders."
The PWA case first came to light after federal
authorities arrested the leader of the ring, Robin Rothberg,
in February 2000. A federal grand jury later indicted the
other 16 members of the group on May 4, 2000, representing
the first major indictments sought under the No Electronic
Theft (NET) Act passed in 1997. An undercover FBI operation
revealed that PWA operated a major FTP website called "Sentinel"
that allowed members to download thousands of copyrighted
software programs for free.
Five of the PWA members are former employees
of Intel Corp., four of which were found to have provided
hardware capable of distributing the 5,000 software titles
that were present on the "Sentinel" site. SIIA testified on
May 11, 2001, in the case against Morley to highlight the
economic impact to software publishers as a result of PWA
actions. "We hope that this action against Pirates With Attitude
will pave the way for future prosecutions and serve as a warning
to those facilitating copyright infringement," said Flynn.
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