China convicts 11 software counterfeiters

SHANGHAI, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. software giant Microsoft said convictions announced in China Wednesday involved a software counterfeit ring with global sales of more than $2 billion.

A Chinese court convicted 11 people for violations of copyright laws, handing out prison sentences of up to six and a half years, The New York Times reported.

The case represented "the biggest software counterfeit organization we have ever seen, by far," Microsoft said in a statement.

The counterfeiters used the Internet to sell products like Microsoft's Windows XP and Office 2007. The case involved 25 arrests and the confiscation of $500 million worth of counterfeit software products in China in July 2007.

"This is absolutely unprecedented," Microsoft's associate general counsel David Finn said. "The size and scope of the operation is unlike anything we've seen before. We found their products in 36 countries."

The case was also considered an international coup as it involved cooperation between the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and China's Ministry of Public Security, the Times said.