Man sentenced for selling devices enabling illegal games to be played
A Birmingham man has today (May 22) been sentenced by magistrates for selling devices enabling Nintendo DS consoles to play downloaded counterfeit computer games.
Graham Gibbs, 46, of Coventry Road, has been sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 24 months, and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work after admitting 11 offences relating to the sale – advertised on his website – of the devices, contrary to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
He also admitted one offence of possessing money received from the unlawful sale of these devices, contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Sajeela Naseer, Head of Trading Standards for Birmingham City Council, said: “Our officers, working with the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (UKIE), found that devices designed to enable Nintendo DS consoles to play illegally copied games were being sold on www.uk-memory-cards.co.uk, a site registered to Graham Gibbs.
“Trading Standards officers seized approximately 200 devices from an address in Yardley, along with computer equipment, storage devices and postal packaging. Forensic tests on the hard drives seized revealed a large-scale, lucrative business selling these devices was being run from computers seized from Gibbs’s address.
“A lot of time and money is invested in developing computer games, so anything which encourages people to buy cheaper illegal games is putting jobs in this specialist industry, and the wider local economy, at risk.”
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