Burbank Home Raided in Computer Pirating Probe

A Burbank man who was under investigation for 16 months by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has become the focus of an FBI inquiry into the pirating of computer programs, officials said Thursday.

FBI investigators seized several illegally reproduced computers and computer programs Tuesday at the home of Joseph D. Duval, 51, according to FBI spokesman Fred Reagan. The items will be submitted to a federal grand jury, Reagan said.

Reagan said that Duval, an electronics technician for the Glendale Unified School District, has been selling computers and programs in violation of federal copyright and trademark statutes.

Raid in Oregon

Agents also searched the Springfield, Ore., residence of Dual’s sister, Carma McIntire, who Reagan said sold pirated computers and software obtained from her brother.

Investigators would not disclose the value of items confiscated in the two raids. Neither Duval nor McIntire was arrested.

The searches culminated an 11-month FBI investigation of Duval, who officials said was running a part-time computer business from his residence, Reagan said.

“The investigation had indicated that Duval was selling pirated copies or clones of Apple and IBM personal computers and accessories, as well as pirated copies of floppy disks containing popular programs for the Apple and IBM computers, together with photocopied users’ manuals,” Reagan said.

A Costa Mesa firm that sells computer accounting software, State of the Arts Inc., was one of the main victims of Duval, Reagan said. Officials of the firm told investigators that they first learned about Duval when distributors reported having difficulty selling the company’s software because of bootlegging, said Joe Armstrong, vice president of finance for the State of the Arts.

As much as 30% of the company’s business had been lost to pirates, Armstrong said.

A private investigator hired by State of the Arts posed as a customer last year and bought five pirated copies of the firm’s software program from Duval, Armstrong said. The programs were worth a total of about $3,000, he said.

The firm notified the FBI and the district attorney’s office, Armstrong said.

A spokesman for the district attorney said his office investigated Duval for 16 months but turned the matter over to the FBI because there are no state regulations governing copyright violations.

Harassment Alleged

Duval charged in a phone interview Thursday that district attorney’s investigators had been harassing him and intimidating his customers, “but they haven’t been able to get anything concrete on me, so they turned it over to the FBI. I haven’t done anything wrong, and they’ll have to prove I did.”

Duval said he has been running a computer consultation business for five years. He said he has sold computers that he obtained from other computer owners, but that he only occasionally sells software. He said investigators confiscated his private software collection on the assumption that he was selling it.

“They’ve made nervous wrecks out of my customers, so much so that they’ve won’t do business with me,” Duval said. “I’m scared of going out of business.”