The 61-year-old resident of Reichenbach, Baden-Württemberg, was convicted by the Stuttgart District Court to a total of five and a half years of imprisonment; having sold an estimated 1.4 million units of pirated audio recordings (mainly CDs and DVDs) between 2011 and 2016. According to Roderich Martis, chief judge of the 11th District Court for Economic Crimes (Große Wirtschaftsstrafkammer), this is the largest case of product piracy seen at Stuttgart Regional Court in decades.
Initially, a private investigator working on behalf of affected music record labels had identified the infringer based in the Esslingen area. Subsequent investigations by the authorities revealed that the counterfeiter was traveling to countries such as Japan, Poland, Singapore, or Sweden, in order to acquire unauthorized concert recordings (so-called bootleg recordings) of well-known artists such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or U2. He is then to have transmitted the unauthorized recordings to companies in Saxony and the Polish city of Warsaw for illegal manufacture of recordings such as CDs or DVDs.
The Reichenbach resident is said to have placed over 50 orders, each with at least 1,000 and up to over 80,000 units (e.g. CDs or DVDs), which were processed by the two companies. As he usually paid cash to cover his tracks, investigators searching his apartment could not find accounting records corresponding to these transactions.
The Reichenbach resident allegedly sold the counterfeit records directly to his customers in Germany, on places such as supermarket parking lots. For foreign customers, the man sent his illegal copies via mail, probably to avoid possible inspections at border crossings. His customers would often resell the pirated music, for example in record stores or on the Internet.
Using some discovered remittance documents, investigators were able to prove the counterfeiter’s illegal music piracy income was at least around €305,000; however, they believe the actual amount was significantly higher due to the large volume of untraceable cash transactions.
The district court’s ruling followed the prosecutor’s recommendations. While the verdict is not yet final, the 61-year-old was already taken into custody, as the court considers a risk of absconding. Sony, Universal and Warner and other record labels whose rights had been violated were active as co-plaintiffs in the proceedings.
