E-waste Recycler Headed to Prison for Selling Windows Restore Disks

Megalith

Megalith

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Having lost his appeal, famed e-waste recycler Eric Lundgren will be serving 15 months in prison for profiting from Windows restore disks. The defendant argued that there was no loss to Microsoft because the disks had no real value, as they could be downloaded for free. The company actually charges a $25 fee for Windows on a refurbished system, however, and has published a series of e-mails proving his guilt.

Neither Microsoft nor any computer manufacturers sell restore disks. They supply them free with new computers and make the software available for free downloading for those who have paid for the software and received a license — typically a sticker with a “Certificate of Authenticity” number on it. Lundgren said that he was trying to make the disks available for those who needed them and that they could be used only on licensed computers.
 
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Is this the aftermath of the story? This was a pretty hilarious story. Dude prints off a bazillion discs and doesn't think he's doing anything wrong.
 
pendragon1 said:
he was sentenced in feb., it was on the front page then.
https://www.hardocp.com/news/2018/02/15/ewaste_recycler_facing_prison_for_copyright_infringement
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I emailed them the story. There is more to this story then the headline posted here IMO.

A Youtube video someone posted on the 26th talked about this and geriatric lawmakers... Eric (the guy sued by Microsoft) replied in the comments and is going to be doing a QA on Reddit.



Apparently Eric was actually selling the CDs for the cost of the disc its self (25c) and did pretty much nothing that Microsoft came after him in court for while also fabricating some BS that the prehistoric Judge wouldn't understand one way or another.
 
look at all those obnoxious emails.
"get it done... make me proud"
Based on his writing and grammar, no better than the "bumpkin" he disparages.
 
Tengis said:
I emailed them the story. There is more to this story then the headline posted here IMO.

A Youtube video someone posted on the 26th talked about this and geriatric lawmakers... Eric (the guy sued by Microsoft) replied in the comments and is going to be doing a QA on Reddit.



Apparently Eric was actually selling the CDs for the cost of the disc its self (25c) and did pretty much nothing that Microsoft came after him in court for while also fabricating some BS that the prehistoric Judge wouldn't understand one way or another.
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still doesn't change the fact that this was all back in feb and already on the front page and has several threads talking about it. louis is just behind. you could have added that video to one of the existing threads. theres no new news, just his take on things.

edit: oh and the original front page blurb said "There's more to this and it's well worth a read of the original story. Thanks cageymaru.".
 
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It doesn't matter that MS distributes their own OS for free (ISO downloads), they can do that, they own it.

This guy was making and selling his own copies of the MS OS that he doesn't own or have rights to.
You can't do that. Doesn't matter if he was profiting or not.

What I do have a problem with is MS saying that refurbishers need to buy another OS license.
MS has made a huge point over the years of saying that the OS license is tied to the hardware.

Either it is, or it isn't. MS already made their money on the OS for that machine, there is no reason
to justify charging for a new license when the computer changes hands. The license is not tied to
the owner of the machine, it's tied to the machine itself (hence the COA sticker).

MS needs to have their hand slapped for that.

.
 
I was going to post something about how these are just restore discs, etc but then I read his emails. It's hard to defend him after you read a few of those.
He knew what he was doing was wrong.
 
Tengis said:
]Apparently Eric was actually selling the CDs for the cost of the disc its self (25c) and did pretty much nothing that Microsoft came after him in court for while also fabricating some BS that the prehistoric Judge wouldn't understand one way or another.
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...aside from intentionally, consciously making counterfeit genuine-looking discs.
https://blogs.microsoft.com/uploads/prod/sites/5/2018/04/2LUNDGREN6.pdf

Also, it's important to note that Microsoft didn't "come after him" until law enforcement, acting on their own inspection protocols, discovered the discs and were like "I don't think MS would ship discs like this maybe we should check with them." The short story is MS said "not ours" and the cops were like "well they seem to be counterfeits of your stuff" and MS even told them to use the *lowest* price to determine any financial loss (see marked pg.49 of the PDF).

If they had just made unique non-counterfeiting labels or just written "recovery disc" on them with a Sharpie there's a much higher chance they could have gotten past customs.
 
This poor guy is about to do time and all the other things associated with it, meanwhile has even a single person of authority from Equif**K even seen the inside of a court room let alone a cell?
 
15 months? Man, seems kind of steep to me because so many lawmakers these days are trying to empty the prisons and let people who should be locked up, out on house arrest. Happy times for real criminals cause they know they're going to back back on streets in no time (literally). Not this dude though. He got a longer sentence than a drug dealer or burglar gets these days. Microsoft must feel pretty proud. Nowadays, law enforcement gets their hands tied by lawmakers on what they can't do to real criminals, but when it comes to "crimes" that have to do with "copyright infringement", well now that's a horse of a different color. Now the big guns can come out of the holsters to get these "bad guys".
 
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reading his emails was gold. lol, and for clarification for everyone who did not read the document; It was the U.S. customs who even brought the case to him and not Microsoft.
 
Grave misuse of the legal system. Prison should be for people who are a danger to society if not locked away. This guy is in no way a danger to anyone. A fine would've sufficed. Now instead they're sending him to prison, where he'll spend 15 months which the taxpayers pay for, and when he gets out he will not be a better contributor to society, but arguably much worse if he'll be able to contribute at all with a prison record.

If you don't see this as a problem then you're blind as a bat.

He did wrong by selling these downloaded install discs, by using ms trademarks, But MS's lawyers persuaded the out of touch judge that this is piracy, and caused them tens of thousands in damages. He wasn't selling keys or including cracks on the discs. It was an exact copy of the freely downloadable installers with the media creation tool. Where he gone wrong was that he represented these discs as if they were original install media by MS.
 
Spartacus said:
It doesn't matter that MS distributes their own OS for free (ISO downloads), they can do that, they own it.

This guy was making and selling his own copies of the MS OS that he doesn't own or have rights to.
You can't do that. Doesn't matter if he was profiting or not.

What I do have a problem with is MS saying that refurbishers need to buy another OS license.
MS has made a huge point over the years of saying that the OS license is tied to the hardware.

Either it is, or it isn't. MS already made their money on the OS for that machine, there is no reason
to justify charging for a new license when the computer changes hands. The license is not tied to
the owner of the machine, it's tied to the machine itself (hence the COA sticker).

MS needs to have their hand slapped for that.

.
Click to expand...
This. I had a legit version of Windows 10 that I upgrade from 7 a couple years ago and became useless when my MB died. After replacing it windows wouldn't activate after the new MB. I am sure you can call ms and get a new key but why should I have too?!
 
M76 said:
Grave misuse of the legal system. Prison should be for people who are a danger to society if not locked away. This guy is in no way a danger to anyone. A fine would've sufficed. Now instead they're sending him to prison, where he'll spend 15 months which the taxpayers pay for, and when he gets out he will not be a better contributor to society, but arguably much worse if he'll be able to contribute at all with a prison record.

If you don't see this as a problem then you're blind as a bat.

He did wrong by selling these downloaded install discs, by using ms trademarks, But MS's lawyers persuaded the out of touch judge that this is piracy, and caused them tens of thousands in damages. He wasn't selling keys or including cracks on the discs. It was an exact copy of the freely downloadable installers with the media creation tool. Where he gone wrong was that he represented these discs as if they were original install media by MS.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong? He produced COUNTERFEIT discs designed to look like the real thing. He was also planning on SELLING these counterfeit items. That is 1000% illegal. By the way, US Customs are the ones that opened the case and went to MS to find out if the discs were real. He continued to produce discs after being warned to stop. He set up production lines in China to mass produce the counterfeit discs. Also, you should really read the emails. It is very clear that he was trying to make sure these counterfeit discs looked so real they fooled anyone looking at them. Every. Single. Step he took was illegal.
 
Derangel said:
Nothing wrong? He produced COUNTERFEIT discs designed to look like the real thing. He was also planning on SELLING these counterfeit items. That is 1000% illegal. By the way, US Customs are the ones that opened the case and went to MS to find out if the discs were real. He continued to produce discs after being warned to stop. He set up production lines in China to mass produce the counterfeit discs. Also, you should really read the emails. It is very clear that he was trying to make sure these counterfeit discs looked so real they fooled anyone looking at them. Every. Single. Step he took was illegal.
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You read what you want to read, go back and read what's actually written there and try again.
 
M76 said:
You read what you want to read, go back and read what's actually written there and try again.
Click to expand...

I read the article, Microsoft's statement, AND the emails. How about you? EVERYTHING he did was illegal. There is zero justification for making and selling counterfeit discs intentionally designed into fooling people into believing they are real. His own fucking emails say that is what he was doing.
 
WorldExclusive said:
Don't defend your IP, you lose it. Business copyright law 101.
Not because Microsoft wanted to, the law says they have to.
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Microsoft could have made and agreement with this guy without this going to court.

They wanted to roast him because they are assholes.

The peanuts this guy was making will do nothing for their bottom line.

So while you have a point they are still assholes a jail term was not necessary for this.
 
Makaveli@BETA said:
Microsoft could have made and agreement with this guy without this going to court.

They wanted to roast him because they are assholes.

The peanuts this guy was making will do nothing for their bottom line.

So while you have a point they are still assholes a jail term was not necessary for this.
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Nah, they took him to court because, as already, mentioned he was warned to stop and basically gave them the finger by continuing what he was doing.
 
lostin3d said:
This poor guy is about to do time and all the other things associated with it, meanwhile has even a single person of authority from Equif**K even seen the inside of a court room let alone a cell?
Click to expand...

He doesn't have the kind of money they do..so he goes to jail, they simply get told not to do it again or they might receiving another strongly worded letter.
 
Louis Rossmann has a great interview with Eric here:



His side of the story sounds vastly different than what is being reported.

Just food for thought,
 
Derangel said:
I read the article, Microsoft's statement, AND the emails. How about you? EVERYTHING he did was illegal. There is zero justification for making and selling counterfeit discs intentionally designed into fooling people into believing they are real. His own fucking emails say that is what he was doing.
Click to expand...
JUST READ MY POST AGAIN, for crying out loud. Nowhere did I write "he did nothing wrong" You imagined that, and ran with it, and you're still running with it. Now if you can't be bothered to read my post properly, then don't waste my time.

Btw his "own fucking mails" seem to be fabricated by the guy who actually ordered the discs who was flipped by the state to rat on Lundgren to get away with a suspended sentence.
 
So, just to clarify, MS charges refurbishers $25 when they wipe the drive and reinstall Windows? Why don't the refurbishers just download the free image or use a legitimate disk? Unless they no longer have the OEM key I'm not sure I see what violation occurred.
 
PantherBlitz said:
So, just to clarify, MS charges refurbishers $25 when they wipe the drive and reinstall Windows? Why don't the refurbishers just download the free image or use a legitimate disk? Unless they no longer have the OEM key I'm not sure I see what violation occurred.
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The $25 is what MS charges for a key to system builders. But in court they testified that the discs lundgren had ordered is equal in value somehow. And the judge didn't know better and gobbled that up. That's what you get when you have judges ruling over tech cases who don't even know the difference between an install media and an actual license key.

I think Lundgren is also skewing the facts now, and not telling the whole truth. But it seems clear that MS deliberately gave false testimony to make the case for a conspiracy to commit piracy as opposed to a trademark infringement which is not a criminal case but a civil one.
 
Well, who is actually paying for the restore dics? Dude better not drop the soap.
 
he will be a target once they lock him up; soap on a rope won't help him
 
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