14 DAY TRIAL // A man from Texas was sentenced to 57 months in prison after pleading guilty to copyright infringement charges. The individual was operating a website that promised users “backup” copies for software owned by Adobe, Microsoft and Autodesk Inc. which he commercialized for one-fifth of the products’ market price.
James Clayton Baxter, aged 28, from Wichita Falls must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by March 29.
“Homeland Security Investigations is one of the primary enforcers of intellectual property rights laws. This sentence is part of the ongoing message to potential counterfeiters that there are serious consequences for copyright infringement,” said David M. Marwell, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) Dallas.
Baxter’s activities have been monitored by authorities since 2007 when investigators contracted by Adobe notified the HIS about purchasing bootlegged software from a site called TechKappa.com.
The same year, the FBI also received a lead from the Wichita Falls PD regarding the man’s involvement in copyright infringing activities.
It turned out that the suspect was administrating a number of websites, including Amerisoftware.com, Costfriendlysoftware.net, TechKappa.com, Ultrabackup.net, Superbuysoftware.net and Go-E-Soft.com.
Baxter admitted that he knowingly sold copyrighted content for his own financial gain, law enforcement representatives determining that he illegally earned between $400,000 (280,000 EUR) and $1 million (700,000 EUR).
In the timeframe between 2004 and 2007, the software pirate assumed more than a dozen business names and opened various bank accounts, which he utilized to process payments.
A number of six other men were convicted for the same crimes by Wichita Falls authorities, all of them accused of operating websites that commercialized Adobe products.
All the defendants were given sentences between 12 months and 57 months, being forced to pay Adobe a restitution totaling more than $2 million (1.4 million EUR).