Seattle Trademark Lawyer

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a former Washington resident who sold counterfeit-labeled Microsoft software was sentenced on November 29 to five years in jail and ordered to pay Microsoft $9.4 million in restitution. 

The plea agreement states that Scott Laney obtained Microsoft software that was labeled “Academic Edition,” “Not for Resale,” or otherwise; removed the labels; affixed counterfeit labels; and sold the counterfeit-labeled software for a profit. The plea agreement further states that Mr. Laney purchased Academic Edition versions of the software at a discount or obtained the software from Microsoft employees who had purchased them at a discount from the Microsoft Company Store or obtained them through a Microsoft program that enables employees to order software for business use for free. Mr. Laney admits in his plea agreement that he and his co-conspirators sold as much as $20 million worth of software from Microsoft and other companies. The agreement suggests that Mr. Laney’s scheme began to come undone in October 2000 when Mr. Laney’s company, Quest Computers, sold counterfeit-labeled software to a Microsoft undercover investigator. 

Mr. Laney pleaded guilty to “trafficking in counterfeit labels and computer program documentation” in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2318, among other offenses. Judge Franklin Burgess of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma imposed the sentence.

Mr. Laney’s plea agreement identifies Tobias Grace as a co-conspirator. The P-I reports that Mr. Grace, a Vancouver, Washington, resident, is scheduled to be sentenced for his part on January 19.