In a first for mobile applications, US authorities have announced that they have seized three websites that are alleged to have been distributing illegal copies of Android apps.
As part of a coordinated effort involving the FBI, the US Justice Department, several US courts and law enforcement from the Netherlands and France three domains were seized. The domain names, applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com, have all been shut down and now display a seizure notice.
Law enforcement from countries outside the States were brought in to secure evidence from servers hosted outside the country following an investigation by the FBI which saw “thousands” of copies of copyrighted apps being downloaded from the websites in question. Nine search warrants were executed around the States on Tuesday related to the seizure.
The US Justice Department’s Lanny A. Breuer said in a statement “Software apps have become an increasingly essential part of our nation’s economy and creative culture, and the criminal division is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the creators of these apps and other forms of intellectual property from those who seek to steal it.”
Source: PC World