Why you dont sell pirated stuff (or atleast why you dont get caught doing it)

[protokatie]

400k bucks is what this guy got...

http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/index.php/id;548719918;fp;4;fpid;802453

[Ummon]

What games, though? Retro games?

[Thenasty]

I bought 2 of those.
"Profit exceded $310,000" but paid a fine of "$415,000" + 15 months in prison.

You call that profits 

They sold this items in MALLS. Why not get those guys 

[kayoteq]

I saw those last year in the mall.. something like a 75-in-1 NES with weird titles, like Mappy is 'Mouse Police House Chase".
I love silly things like that, but they were about $8 too much for me.  Shoulda known better than to mess with Nintendo's IP,
but I guess it's something so  easily mass produced and recognizable, plus you don't have to blow into the cartridges.

[Dartful Dodger]

What about the people that bought them?

If he sold them online he should have a record of those people and anyone who used a credit card would also be easy to track.

[Thenasty]

What about the people that bought them?

If he sold them online he should have a record of those people and anyone who used a credit card would also be easy to track.

I did not know it was illegal to buy it 

[massive88]

I did not know it was illegal to buy it 

If its reasonable (as judged by the court) to determine that an item is illegal, then it is illegal to purchase that item as you are aiding in the illegal activity.

For instance, someones bootlegged movie of a show that just came out, or authentic good at ridiculously low costs still in factory packaging. 

Whether or not anyone seeks out the buyers is another story.  Unless these were big ticket items, I'm still not entirely sure what exactly he was selling, I wouldn't expect anything to happen the to buyers.  Im sure the parties involved are more concerned about nailing the source, and encouraging similar enterprises to stop as well.

[kayoteq]

Seems like one would have a reasonable defense of not knowing the intricacies of licensing. A movie's pretty obvious, a little video game controller just like the  official ones they have in the stores, most folks only see it as a cheap video game. Especially when the bootleggers go to some effort to remove all copyright notices/ original names.

I went to a sci-fi convention meeting hosted by the Mystery Science Theater guys.. this was several years back, they asked,
"so.. how many of you have a bootleg DVD of Star Wars?" 80% of the audience raised their hand (me included. )
At the time, that was the only way short of copying your VHS/Laserdisk.. desperate times.