

A US court has sentenced a Chinese national to 12 years in prison for selling over $100m (614 million yuan) of pirated software, the BBC reports.

Li [Xiang] is accused of stealing software from 200 US manufacturers and selling it for a fraction of their prices.

He was arrested in the US Pacific territory of Saipan in June 2011 and pleaded guilty earlier this year.

The firms that were targeted by Mr Li include Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Rockwell Automation.

Li found cracked versions of popular software packages online which he then offered for sale on his websites, which hosted over 2,000 pirated titles.

According to Sina, Li is the first Chinese citizen to be “apprehended and prosecuted in the U.S. for cybercrimes he engaged in entirely from China,” prosecutors said in court filings.

[Image credit: @kjetikor]





