Two Canadians charged for selling xbox games

[YLSF]

I read about it on XBOX scene but here is the original article link.


http://marketnews.ca/news_detail.asp?nid=382

Two Charged in Making & Selling Counterfeit Xbox Games

Windsor, ON, January 21, 2005: Two Amherstburg, ON residents are facing 21 charges under the Copyright Act, after RCMP investigators shut down an operation that was allegedly making and selling counterfeit Xbox games.

The RCMP received a complaint from Microsoft Canada, the manufacturer, copyright and trademark holder for Xbox, about a Website that was selling counterfeit games for modified Xbox systems. As part of the investigation, approximately 20 counterfeit games were purchased from the Website, which was tracked to a residence in Amherstburg.

A search warrant was executed at the home, during which the following was seized: five computers; equipment related to the manufacturing, testing and distribution of counterfeit Xbox games; two modified Xbox systems used to play the counterfeit games; three CD carrying cases containing more than 500 counterfeited games; more than 2,400 blank DVDs; and Internet orders for games.

Investigators believe the Website was in business for longer than 15 months, and sold in excess of 14,700 games at approximately US$7 each. Total sales is estimated at US$95,000, and games were sold all over the world, including in Australia, England, Ireland and Denmark.

Based on an average cost per legitimate game of US$50, investigators estimate the loss to the gaming industry and retailers at approximately US$735,000. This total does not include loss of tax revenue.

Tammy Colombe, 26, and Christopher Kay, 27 were both charged on January 12, 2005 with 15 counts of selling and six counts of making counterfeit goods.

RCMP notes to the public that if a video game requires the gaming console to be modified in any manner (i.e. a “mod� chip is required to play the game), than it is a counterfeit game


Haha.. I just read the last line.. that is FUNNY.. I can just see the sales guy saying "oh.. no, no .. this is legit... We are going to put this chip in your xbox to make it play faster. Don't worry about the label falling off, it is all good "

[d_jedi]

Good stuff.

[Fobulous]

whoa nelly... thats a lot of games.

wonder how many halo 2's were sold this way!

[divx]

this guy made $95000 US? I can't believe they lasted 15 month. Should've got shutdown sooner.

[CSAgent]

2,400 blank DVDs? I wonder if they were TY... Don't wanna use bad DVDs now do they?

[YLSF]

haha.. Yeah, I wonder if one of those guys that posted a ROOM full of DVDs on one of the "dvd deal" threads was involved..

[CSR]

lOL i have a stockpile of Dvds

[Degenerate]

Serves them right for running it on a damn website.

Too bad the RCMP don't have the balls to raid Pacific Mall and shut down the stores for good.

[akito925]

this guy made $95000 US? I can't believe they lasted 15 month. Should've got shutdown sooner.

no one at futureshop boxing day sale of all the blank dvd-r's were sold out so quicky.. with one guy with a shopping cart full. lol.

[coldWater]

Investigators believe the Website was in business for longer than 15 months, and sold in excess of 14,700 games at approximately US$7 each. Total sales is estimated at US$95,000, and games were sold all over the world, including in Australia, England, Ireland and Denmark.

Based on an average cost per legitimate game of US$50, investigators estimate the loss to the gaming industry and retailers at approximately US$735,000. This total does not include loss of tax revenue.

if the price is $50/game, i don't think they can sell that much, so $735,000 is kinda misleading

[ynchu]

Serves them right for running it on a damn website.

Too bad the RCMP don't have the balls to raid Pacific Mall and shut down the stores for good.

Wow, and RCMP is satisfied with two little fishes...?
Welcome to GVRD, especially Richmond, and Burnaby, B.C. Meet the Chinese chipping experts. Perhaps they could get RCMP a few copies of GTA so they could train better... or sit back and relax.

[Coolisme]

if the price is $50/game, i don't think they can sell that much, so $735,000 is kinda misleading

No, the crooks were selling at $7/game. $7/game compared to $50/game (which is the retail price) is a large difference. They would have sold alot of games at $7/game.

[guest10586]

I sorta feel sorry for them but they did make a profit off of it. I feel worse for people who distribute without a profit and get charged. Well, the law never really cared much about the average citizen anyways. It just enjoys enforcing speeding tickets and charges from large companies.

There was another post where someone got scammed on <a href=../autolink/redirectpage.php?linkid=78 target=_blank>ebay</a> from a person still selling fake iPods and the police still don't do anything about it.

Yeah, the approsimate retail sale value is total garbage. Does microsoft really think anyone would buy that many games at $50-70 a game? Get real, PS2 on the other hand.

[Defiant]

Serves them right. Pirating for personal use is one thing, selling is another entirely. How stupid were they to think they could just setup a website and assume they would never be charged/sued ? Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!

[wanted]

Yikes.... that's alot of money and GAMES!