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May 19, 2008
CIVIL DEFENDANT HELD IN CRIMINAL CONTEMPT OF COURT FOR ATTEMPTING TO EXPORT COPYRIGHTED CELLULAR TELEPHONES TO CHINA
(HOUSTON, Texas) – Muhammad “Mubi” Mubashir, 27, of Sugar Land, Texas, was held in criminal contempt for attempting to export cellular telephones to China in violation of an injunction entered against him by the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas in a civil case filed by Virgin Mobile USA, LLC (Virgin Mobile), United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.
Mubashir pleaded guilty to the criminal contempt charge before U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon this morning. During today’s hearing, Mubashir conceded that on Aug. 10, 2006, a final judgment and agreed permanent injunction was entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in a civil action filed in July 2006 by Virgin Mobile against him, World MMP Inc. and two other individuals for copyright infringement. Per the terms of that judgment, Mubashir was permanently enjoined from purchasing, offering to purchase, reselling, offering to resell, shipping and tampering with the software, or inducing or soliciting any other person or entity to purchase, offer to purchase, resell, offer to resell, ship and tamper with the software of any Virgin Mobile wireless handset, including, without limitation, the Kyocera K10 wireless handset.
In support of the criminal contempt charge filed by the United States in November 2007, the government presented evidence proving that on May 9, 2007, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer examined a shipment at Eagle Global Logistics (EGL) being exported by Mubashir’s company called Americas Wireless to Yeng Fung Trading Company in Hong Kong. The shipment contained 46 Virgin Mobile cellular phones, Nokia model 2115i, displaying the Virgin Mobile name and logo. The following day, May 10, 2007, the agents inventoried the shipment with assistance from a Houston Police Department officer. Agents found 46 Nokia 2115i (Virgin Mobile) cellular phones and documents showing the phones had been purchased on April 1, 2007, by AMERICAS WIRELESS in San Antonio for $35.00 each or a total of $1,610. Other cellular phones were purchased on the same invoice for a grand total of $38,218.
The final judgment and injunction which ultimately led to the criminal contempt charge is the result of a civil suit filed in July 2006 by Virgin Mobile against Mubashir and others. The civil suit alleged Mubashir and others were acquiring, for unauthorized, non-personal use, significant quantities of Virgin Mobile wireless handsets sold through retail stores at prices below their cost for the benefit of Virgin Mobile’s customers, then reselling the handsets in bulk to customers both in the United States and abroad. As part of this scheme, copyrighted locking software installed in each handset to limit its use to Virgin Mobile service was modified, erased or otherwise altered so that the handsets would operate on wireless services other than Virgin Mobile’s service, in contravention of the terms governing the handsets purchase and in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. Section 1201, et. seq.
In January 2007, five months after the entry of the final judgment and agreed injunction, Virgin Mobile sought a contempt order against Mubashir and others alleging that Mubashir and others, operating as Unicomm Wireless, posted online advertisements seeking to purchase Virgin Mobile handsets and offering to sell the handsets to an undercover investigator that feigned interest in the defendants’ offers. The court held Mubashir in contempt and ordered him to pay all costs associated with the enforcement of the court’s judgment and attorney’s fees.
There is no statutorily prescribed prison term or fine for criminal contempt of court. Therefore, Mubashir faces a fine or sentence of imprisonment to be determined at the discretion of the court at sentencing which has been set for Aug. 22, 2008.
This case was investigated by ICE special agents with assistance of the Houston Police Department and CBP and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay Hileman.
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