Security firm Symantec yesterday announced that it has been awarded over $1 million in damages as a result of a criminal software piracy case. Software seller Li Chen also pleaded guilty to one charge of trade mark infringement.
Symantec, with the help of Microsoft, had been investigating Li Chen for over two years, according to reports, before it had sufficient evidence to contact authorities.
In November 2004 the Houston Police Department and the FBI raided Chen’s business premises, seizing more than 5,100 units of counterfeit Symantec software. They also found documents revealing that, between April 2002 and October 2004, Chen sold counterfeit Symantec software with a retail value of more than $9.9 million.
Chen was arrested and as part of a plea bargain has now agreed to pay restitution of over $1 million to Symantec and $95,000 to Microsoft, according to reports.
"Symantec is committed to vigorously battling software piracy and protecting the interests of our customers,” said William Baird, Symantec's Global Investigations manager.
“This case was helped significantly by customers who sent samples of counterfeit software to Symantec's Brand Protection Task Force," he added.
According to Symantec, it has been awarded over $19.5 million in damages from anti-piracy actions since September 2003. Microsoft meanwhile launched its latest round of court actions against software pirates earlier this month, filing eight suits against firms across the US for allegedly distributing counterfeit Microsoft products, or infringing upon copyrighted software.
