Trio fined thousands for selling pirated Mercedes-Benz diagnostic software systems

A trio of men found guilty of illegally pirating Mercedes-Benz diagnostic software systems escaped from prison but were fined thousands of dollars following a recent FBI investigation.

According to an article found on World Intellectual Property Review, Martin Vellozzi, Rainer Wittich and Robert Beckmann created and sold approximately a thousand units of diagnostic software systems. The article states the three men profited from copying the software and selling it for a lower price than Mercedes-Benz would.

They were sold for between $6,000 and $12,000.

Vellozzi was sentenced to four years of probation and fined $6,000, while Wittich received five years of probation. Wittich’s company was fined $150,000. Meanwhile, Beckmann was sentenced to four years of probation and was fined $5,000 for criminal copyright infringement. His company, Beckmann Technologies, was levied a fine of $75,000.

The trio was sentenced earlier this year.