Why the man who tried to sell Windows recovery discs will go to prison

Enlarge (credit: Mack Male)

A California man has been ordered to prison for 15 months after having been convicted of "counterfeiting" thousands of Windows Reinstallation Discs. Curiously, Microsoft routinely gives away this Windows download at no cost.

In short, Eric Lundgren, who runs a 100-employee Los Angeles-area e-waste company known as IT Asset Partners, was sentenced to prison for selling something that is otherwise generally free.

On Wednesday, a federal appeals court affirmed Lundgren’s sentence, as he had pleaded guilty in 2017 to criminal copyright infringement in connection to his unauthorized sale of the discs.