United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

BRANFORD MAN SENTENCED TO 13 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JUSTIN McCOBB, age 24, of 13 Helen Road, Branford, Connecticut, was sentenced yesterday, March 30, by United States District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to 13 months imprisonment, with a recommendation that he be placed into the Bureau of Prisons' shock incarceration or "boot camp" program. McCOBB pleaded guilty on September 8, 2003, to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

According to court documents, from approximately January 2002 through June 2002, McCOBB and others conspired to distribute unauthorized copyrighted works, such as Adobe Illustrator 10, Adobe Pagemaker 7, and AutoDesk AutoCAD 2002. In pleading guilty, McCOBB admitted that he and others had obtained unauthorized (or "pirated") copyrighted software and then sold those copies for profit, using various online auction services, such as eBay.com. Altogether, McCOBB and his co-conspirators were responsible for distributing almost $40,000 in pirated software.

"Stealing the intellectual property of others is no different from any other form of thievery," U.S. Attorney O'Connor stated. "It is a priority of this Office to protect the intellectual property rights of our nation's inventors and creators."

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn J. Chen.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov