Lawsuit claims Boise man sold software illegally on eBay

POSTED: 13:38 MDT Friday, July 25, 2008

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The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced a lawsuit against a Boise man it accuses of knowingly selling software illegally on eBay, according to a news release.

The association filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Gennadiy Barbin, of Boise, and five other people on behalf of Adobe Systems Inc.

It has filed a total of 32 lawsuits in 2008 “as part of its ramped-up effort to stop the illegal sale of software online,” the release says.

The association says it also provided information to the U.S. Department of Justice that led to the arrest and conviction of “notorious eBay software pirate” Jeremiah Mondello, who was sentenced Wednesday to 48 months in federal prison, three years supervised release following jail time, and 150 hours of community service per year. Further, Mondello’s personal computers and $220,000 in cash were seized as part of the sentencing mandates.

Mondello was accused of copyright infringement, mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. SIIA says Mondello, who the association began investigating in 2007, used stolen bank account information to create more than 40 fictitious eBay and PayPal identities to sell pirated software via the auction site. His fraudulent sales amounted to a five to six figure sales volume, the association says.

The SIIA launched its Auction Litigation Program to educate buyers and sellers on auction sites about the harms caused by illegal software resale. Sellers can be prosecuted and buyers can be faced with viruses, a lack of technical support and no recourse. In addition to the auction piracy lawsuits, SIIA has also sought to protect legitimate sellers and unsuspecting buyers by publishing software buying guides for auction sites, and implementing a certification program for software sellers to help steer consumers of auctioned software to sellers who have promised to sell only legal software.

“The latest round of lawsuits continues SIIA’s commitment to ramping up software auction enforcement in 2008,” the release says.

2 Comments

Imagine having the dubious honor of being called a "notorious eBay software pirate". He'll be ruling the jailhouse before long.
Comment By Justin Beller
Friday, July 25, 2008 @ 4:22 PM

Would be nice if someone would link in the court filing.
Comment By user
Friday, July 25, 2008 @ 4:45 PM

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