Thursday, July 26, 2007

"Unprecedented" China-FBI Crackdown On Software Piracy

In a press release, J. Stephen Tidwell, assistent director of the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), informs the public about a joint crackdown on manufacturers of software piracy in Shanghai, Shenzhen and distributors in the US by China's Ministry of Public Security, the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation and a liaison office of the FBI in Beijing netting 500 million US dollar/362 million euro, and arresting 25 people, including Ma Ke Pei, who is an alleged ringleader. The operation, which was codenamed Summer Solstice, referring to an annual astronomical event when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, started already in 2005 and targeted counterfeit software of Microsoft and Symantac.

Read the FBI's press release here.
Read a FT article about it written by Mure Dickie here.

Update: Felix Salmon of Portfolio.com's Market Movers, rightly poses the question about whether the statistic of 500 million US dollar worth of seized counterfeit software is valid. Read here.

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