The FBI is investigating whether a Ford Motor Co. hourly employee stole expensive industrial computer programmes and sold pirated copies worth more than $US1 million on the online auction site eBay, the Detroit News reported.

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The paper said the pirated products, which can cost $1,000 a copy, typically are used only in manufacturing and factory management operations by large industrial corporations – and are not the sort of items individuals would seek to buy.


Citing court records made public on Thursday, the Detroit News said FBI agents on December 15 raided the home of James Thomas, who works at Ford’s Wayne Assembly Plant assigned to the “paint/electrical crib”, seizing computer equipment, manuals and software –  mostly the products of Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc.


A 21-page affidavit filed by FBI special agent Steve Benner said Rockwell spotted the programs for sale on eBay and began an investigation, according to the paper.


Between August 2003 and March 2004, the company’s loss from sales of software on eBay totaled $1.04 million, the FBI reportedly said. When Rockwell alerted the FBI in September of the alleged fraud, it was losing up to $3 million a month from the sale of counterfeit software on eBay.

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Rockwell Vice President John Miller told the Detroit News the company doesn’t know who sought to buy the pirated software.


“Most of our large manufacturing customers have respect for intellectual property rights,” he reportedly said.


The Detroit News said Ford spokeswoman Marcy Evans declined to comment. No one has been charged in the investigation.


David Gorosh, a lawyer for James Thomas, told the paper his client “maintains his innocence and plans to vigorously defend himself against any allegations.”