Courtney Smith, 36, of Anderson, Ind., was convicted and has been sentenced to more than two years in a federal prison plus two years of supervised release, fined $2,000 and ordered to pay $5,200 in restitution for selling counterfeit copies of expensive manufacturing software through eBay. Prosecutors said Smith admitted copying industrial process software made by Wisconsin-based Rockwell Automation Inc. She also faked Rockwell labels for the software.
Smith sold the software in 2004 and made about $4,000 while the company lost more than $700,000 in sales, according to the prosecuting assistant U.S. Attorney Steve DeBrota. DeBrota said investigators have seen a growing number of counterfeit cases involving expensive software over the past five years. "Part of the intent of that sentence is to send a strong message that this is illegal and won't be tolerated," he said.
