Software piracy victim praises custodial sentences

One victim of the software pirate sentenced last Friday at the Old Bailey to 15 months in prison has spoken to silicon.com in support of the custodial sentence awarded to Bilal Khan.

Khan was found guilty of selling counterfeit software via auction sites such as eBay and QXL but in some instances customers didn't receive anything - not even the poor quality imitations which Khan was selling.

Charles Tang, contacted silicon.com after reading the story about Khan's imprisonment. He said: "I think this was a good decision taken by the judge. This sentence sends out a positive message to others. It shows pirates and anybody else who is trying to cheat eBay that they will get caught and they will get prosecuted.

"Until software pirates know for a fact that the law will get tough on them, they will continue scamming and cheating other people of their hard-earned money."

While some may have little sympathy for the victims of software pirates, on the grounds that many are just trying to get goods on the cheap, victims of Khan are different to most. All thought they were buying genuine software.

"From the product descriptions Khan posted on eBay I thought he was definitely selling genuine software," said Tang. "There was no reason to suspect otherwise. He said they were real sealed, unopened, unregistered copies. And the price alone seemed to imply too that they were genuine. Generally, you would expect pirated software to be far cheaper but these products, like the one I bought [Macromedia Flash 4] for $160, were priced highly enough to convince me it was genuine."

This method of Khan's was highlighted during the court hearing on Friday. It was the misleading nature of Khan's sales which were in part his undoing. Complaints from customers about poor quality goods and unfulfilled orders were what first alerted the authorities to his illegal operation.

Tang's endorsement of the custodial sentence handed to Khan echoes the sentiments of the Business Software Alliance, who hailed the 15 month sentence as a triumph.