Android app pirates plead guilty to copyright infringement
The US Department of Justice has broken new ground when it comes to prosecuting counterfeit mobile app distributors. For the first time, the government has convicted two men for illegally selling copies of copyrighted apps.
The Justice Department announced on Monday that Florida residents Nicholas Anthony Narbone, 26, and Thomas Allen Dye, 21, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
Narbone and Dye ran the AppBucket Web site, which had the tagline, "Whatever YOU want us to be!" The site specialized in hawking popular counterfeit Android apps. According to the Justice Department, they distributed more than one million copies of copyrighted apps, which translates to more than $700,000 in total retail value.
