Enthusiast faces 15 months in jail for ripping free Dell Restore CDs

American entrepreneur Eric Lundgren (Eric Lundgren) is engaged in the processing of electronics. He believes that the company IT Asset Partners (ITAP), founded by him, was the first in the world to introduce mass “hybrid processing of electronics”, when old mobile phones and other components are not crushed and separated into chemical elements, and first they make fully functioning devices from the surviving spare parts. From the same computers, all the details that can still serve are extracted, and only then from the remaining are rare-earth and precious metals mined. ITAP utilizes, including in a hybrid way, more than 18.6 thousand tons of electronic waste per year under contracts with IBM, Motorola, Sprint and other large companies.

Eric ran into big trouble last year. His desire to extend the life of personal computers led to a guilty verdict - he was sentenced to 15 months in prison, writes The Washington Post . The 33-year-old businessman is accused of making 28,000 counterfeit Windows discs. Although, in fact, these are regular Dell Restore CD system recovery discs, which are distributed as images free of charge from the Dell website and are issued to every customer.

Microsoft filed a lawsuit claiming lost profits of $ 700,000as a result of the activities of Lundgren. Instead of buying a new Windows license, people restored the OS for free on a computer with an existing license for free! Microsoft has not received a cent.

The court agreed with the prosecutor and sentencedwith a 15-month prison sentence for Eric Lundgren back in May 2017. In addition to imprisonment, he was sentenced to three years in prison after being released and fined $ 50,000. A district court in the Southern District of Florida found Lundgren guilty of intellectual property infringement and criminal conspiracy to trade in counterfeit goods - for his involvement in copying, importing and selling Microsoft pirated software and Dell. The violation was in fact, because IT Asset Partners drives were designed almost the same way as the original Dell drives, that is, using the Microsoft and Dell brands. If they were issued as "Disks from Eric for system recovery", then everything would be in order.



Despite a plea of ​​guilty, Eric Lundgren immediately declared his desire to challenge the verdict. He considers unfair such a harsh punishment for distributing free discs that are free available online to any buyer of Dell computers. His crime was that he illegally made copies of these images and distributed them to all buyers of refurbished Dell computers. Such actions have caused complaints from Microsoft.

Dell itself, which is characteristic, did not put forward any claims against the entrepreneur - the lawsuit came only from Microsoft. Microsoft attorneys presented the case as one example of “software piracy,” which damages the industry for billions of dollars a year. For violation of copyright, the court found him guilty of 2 of the 21 counts.

According to the accused himself, he offered people a way to circumvent the "planned obsolescence" of equipment laid down by manufacturers. He has long noticed that laptops often fail immediately after the warranty period, and this is an abnormal situation.


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Eric Lundgren emphasizes that when you buy a computer with Windows preinstalled, no one needs to re-purchase a Windows license. In other words, buying a PC with licensed Windows allows you to use a computer with a licensed OS for unlimited time. Microsoft itself makes money on the sale of licenses, which cost from $ 300 for a new OS to $ 25 for installing the OS on a restored PC that does not have a licensed OS.

Eric also points out that extending the life of old technology has a positive impact on the environment, because e-waste is one of the most toxic types of waste.

Finally, Lundgren said that he did not profit from his activities, and for the past four years his company has been operating for the most part without profit or loss. ITAP sells recycled equipment at a price that only covers processing and shipping costs. Lundgren does all his work solely for the sake of the environment, to rid the soil and the oceans of toxic waste. Although he understands that representatives of the "corporate" world may be skeptical of such statements, but it is.

Eric is lucky. The Federal Court of Appeal extraordinary suspended execution - and gave it another chance to express its arguments in court. The case will be considered in the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the date of the hearing has not yet been appointed.