Two plead guilty in huge CD piracy bust

SAN FRANCISCO - Two men involved in what US authorities called the largest bust of pirated music CDs and computer software in America have each pleaded guilty to five criminal counts.

The pair, Ye Teng Wen, 30, and Hao He, 30, both of Union City, California, pleaded guilty on five piracy-related charges to making 200,000 illegal CDs, much of it Latin music.

The two, along with a third man, Yaobin Zhai, 33, were indicted in October of copying music CDs, Symantec Corp. computer security software, and Adobe Systems Photoshop.

This is "the largest case involving CD manufacturing piracy uncovered in the United States to date," Kevin Ryan, US Attorney for Northern California, told a news conference.

"The theft associated with this kind of piracy, copyright infringement, is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, I believe, on a yearly basis."

He said officials had seized nearly half a million pirated CDs and 5500 stampers used to make the bootleg products. Many of the disks had FBI anti-piracy seals.

Each of the five counts against the men -- which include copyright infringement, trademark violations and trafficking in counterfeit labels -- carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. Ye and Hao will be sentenced at a later date. Zhai, who did not plead guilty, is due to appear in court in May.

Music industry officials say piracy has lead to a steady decline in CD sales in recent years. Overall US music sales fell 0.6 per cent to US$12 billion ($20 billion) in 2005, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

- REUTERS