http://www.computerworld.com/securit...,94689,00.html

German software pirate gets prison term for Microsoft fraud
Suspected leader of Europe's largest-known counterfeiting network convicted
in fraud case




News Story by Scarlet Pruitt


JULY 22, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Apparently Ralph Blasek didn't do a good
job at plotting his next few moves. The professional chess player and
presumed leader of Europe's largest known software counterfeiting network,
was sentenced today by a German judge with five-and-a-half years in prison
without probation.
"This is checkmate to you Blasek. The court wants to see your king fall,"
the judge said, according to sources close to the case who were in the
courtroom during sentencing.

The defendant was convicted of fraud for selling illegal software to
customers, but the case centered on the tampering of Microsoft Corp.'s
education software. According to Microsoft, Blasek obtained legitimate
Microsoft software sold to schools and educational facilities at a
discounted rate and then resold it as full versions to non-educational
customers for well over the discounted price.

He manipulated the software and its packaging to create counterfeit versions
and sell the licenses, a Microsoft representative said.

Microsoft suffered $5.5 million in damages due to Blasek's activities, the
court spokesman said.

Blasek is also believed to run a sophisticated international software
counterfeiting ring involving hundreds of front companies with bank accounts
established around the world. The organization was supposedly set up in the
early 1990s and generated more than $100 million worth of counterfeit
software in just the last few years of operation, according to sources close
to the case. The organization is even thought to have manufactured
counterfeit software using a German-based CD manufacturing plant that
normally produces music CDs for independent artists.

His sentencing followed an investigation by Germany's Bundeskriminalamt, the
equivalent of the U.S. CIA, and local police and a 10-week trial in the
criminal court of the city of Bochum in Northrhine-Westfalia.

Blasek's sentence comes without probation or the possibility of appeal, and
is on top of the eight months he has already spent in jail since his arrest
last November, courtroom sources said. The court spokesman confirmed the
five-and-a-half year sentence but did not confirm whether Blasek was being
denied an appeal or whether he was unable to subtract the eight months he
has already served.

According to sources, Blasek kept very little software on-site and moved the
discs very quickly.

Sources in the courtroom said the judge issued the tough sentence in part
because the defendant was undercutting legitimate Microsoft channel
resellers. The judge billed him as a "real criminal personality and not an
entrepreneur gone off the tracks," the sources said.

Microsoft applauded the sentencing in a statement from Laurent Delaporte,
vice president of small and medium business and partner group for Europe,
the Middle East and Africa.

"Today's sentence sends an important message to many resellers, distributors
and system builders who are threatened every day by illegal software sales
and criminal counterfeiting. This is a positive step forward to protect
their business," Delaporte said.

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