To fix your own computer you're supposed to go and download the software yourself and put it on a disk if you lost the one that came with your computer (because, as the article states, Microsoft DOES NOT sell these). Eric Lundgren was just selling disks with the free software pre-burned on- the selling point was for the convenience of not having to do it yourself if you didn't know how or were too lazy to.
Here you have emails from Eric in which he flat out states they’re counterfeit and that he’s going to ‘trick’ customs (which is a crime btw). He admits to going to China to set up the counter fitters.
I already wrote a reply on this so I’m just gonna copy pasta:
Alright, I’m gonna be ‘that guy’.
This post is severely misleading about the real situation. He wasn’t just some dude trying to fix old computers. He was counterfitting MS software intentionally, importing it illegally into the US and then selling it as if if it was legit.
Mr. Lundgren’s scheme was simple. He was counterfeiting Windows software in China and importing it to the United States. Mr. Lundgren intended the software to be sold to the refurbisher community as if it was a legitimate, licensed copy of Windows. It was not. The evidence in the case shows Mr. Lundgren used his knowledge of the PC recycling community to scam the very community he claimed to champion and to evade the law. Had he simply wanted to help this community, why did he set up an entire counterfeit production operation in China to make the CDs appear legitimate? And why did he charge for his counterfeit product and try to make a profit at the expense of the community he was ostensibly trying to help?
Source. Yes, I know it’s Microsoft, but the post is riddled with sources and court documents.
Now don’t get me wrong, I work in IT. I am 1000000% behind Right to Repair. But this wasn’t a case of some mom and pop shop fixing old PCs to help people out. It’s the case of a counterfeiter who deliberately fooled customers and customs by passing off fakes as real and profiting highly from them.
SO he’s not in jail because he ‘recycled’. He’s in jail because he knowingly built a counterfeiting operation and knowingly sold fake software to the community (that he claimed to want to help) for a profit.
Please check out the source before spreading this more. If nothing else, read the emails from Mr. Lunden where he flat out states things like “customs can’t tell the difference hehe” and “if they call you play stupid” . He talks about how he has tricks to fool customs and how the customers won’t know it’s fake.
This is not a good dude, guys. He got caught (by customs, fyi, not Microsoft) trying to scam people and went to jail as a result.
