E-Waste Recycler In Hot Legal Water For Piracy, Prison Sentence

Piracy is a crime, or so the media and tech industry loves to keep reminding people. This is largely ignored by both the distributors and users of pirated products, but recently, at least one party has learned how serious this crime really is. An e-waste recycler was just sentenced to 15 months in prison for illegally selling restore CDs of Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Eric Lundgren, 33, is a well-known e-waste recycler who became renowned for his innovations in the industry. He created a facility that basically turned old devices that have been discarded into entirely new gadgets. In keeping with this concept of reusing stuff that was just thrown away, the recycler also decided to do the same thing with discarded Windows restore discs and now he’s going to prison for it, The Washington Post reports.

The discs are usually thrown away despite their importance in helping users recover their OS on their computers when they get corrupted in any way. It seems people are more content with simply buying new units, which gave Lundgren the opportunity to use the discs he has collected for a little profit.

Selling the discs to computer repair shops for a small amount of money, the idea was basically to provide the OS restore ability to customers who might need it. Unfortunately, U.S. Customs managed to catch a shipment of the discs and charged Lundgren with conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods.

The case wouldn’t have involved such a heavy punishment as a prison sentence had Microsoft not argued against Lundgren’s position that the discs were worthless to the company anyway. The tech giant said in a letter and via a witness that selling the discs could potentially hurt its bottom-line.

Microsoft even accused Lundgren of selling the discs at $25 each, which is simply not true, Engadget reports. This is the full price of the discs when they come with the actual operating system. Lundgren was charging nowhere near that amount and for trying to turn a profit while recycling e-waste, he is being punished with a prison sentence.