Virginia Man Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Selling
Counterfeit Software Through the Internet

WASHINGTON – Gregory William Fair, 46, of Falls Church, Va., was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for selling counterfeit computer software on the Internet, in violation of criminal copyright infringement laws, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Channing D. Phillips.

Fair was also sentenced by Judge R. W. Roberts in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $743,098 in restitution. Fair forfeited $144,000 in currency seized from a safety deposit box and residence, one BMW 525i, one Hummer H2, one Mercedes CL600 and one 1969 Pontiac GTO, all of which were purchased with the illegal proceeds of the scheme.

Fair pleaded guilty on April 16, 2009, to one count of criminal copyright infringement and one count of mail fraud for selling pirated business software on the eBay Web site. According to court documents, the software sold by Fair had a combined retail value of more than $1 million. In his plea, Fair admitted that from 2001 through 2007, he used a variety of eBay user identifications to sell a large volume of counterfeit software without authorization from the copyright owners.

The case is part of the Department of Justice’s ongoing initiative to combat the sale of pirated software and counterfeit goods through commercial Web sites and online auction sites. To date, the Department has obtained 39 convictions involving online auction and commercial distribution of counterfeit software. The Department’s initiative to combat online auction piracy is just one of several steps being undertaken to address the losses caused by intellectual property theft and hold responsible those engaged in criminal copyright infringement.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Marc Miller of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Hibarger and Glenn S. Leon of the District of Columbia. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Washington, D.C.