Thought this would interest the forum, from todays Boston Herald
BOSTON — An Andover man has pleaded guilty to federal charges of selling thousands of counterfeit electronic items out of his home using eBay and his own website.
Ahmad Raad pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to trafficking in counterfeit goods and mail fraud.
Federal prosecutors say the 55-year-old Raad purchased electronic products from China, including batteries, chargers and memory sticks, that the bore the brand names of reputable companies, including Sony and Olympus. The products were either not made by those companies or by companies authorized to use the brand names and logos.
In some cases, prosecutors say, Raad bought unmarked items and attached logos from legitimate companies to them before selling them.
He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for Feb. 14.
Even just in the US there’s no fully accounting for 50 states worth of laws…
Generally no. They aren’t stolen goods. This goes back to intellectual property laws. Trademarks are being violated and in some cases patents. That leads to different handling under the law than if the guy broke into the warehouse and took genuine articles.
I’m not a lawyer or police officer (although I did grow up with a Patent Attorney for a parent). I could be spouting utter BS. As always CYA (consult your attorney).
He was not convicted of selling garbage, he was convicted of selling garbage with fake brand names on them. If he had sold ultrafire batteries and similar looking but off brand name junk it looks like he would not have been charged (its the branding that got him arrested)