A MAN who sold counterfeit computer discs and games from his Murrayfield flat has been ordered to perform 170 hours of Community Service.
Stephen Rose, 29, was found with more than 21 boxes of counterfeit PS2 discs and £13,637 in cash at his home during a police raid in October, 2003.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard yesterday that police and trading standards officers were acting on
a tip-off that Rose was involved in the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit computer discs and games.
Defence agent Iain McSporran told the court that Rose's flat at Russell Gardens had been raided just hours after a new law came into force which made the scheme illegal.
He said Rose had tried to sell the equipment on the internet and told customers his business was finished before the law changed.
Despite these steps about £1000 worth of orders had been sent to his website, although none of the orders were met and the money was reimbursed to the customers.
Mr McSporran told Sheriff Derek McIntyre that council officers had been monitoring Rose's website for months before the arrest.
"It would have been appropriate in August for Trading Standards to warn him, he was entitled to a warning," he said.
"It seems to me they were using him as a test case to draw everyone else's attention that this was wrong. It is a misfortune he was used in this way."
Rose pleaded guilty to five charges under the copyright, trade marks and video recording acts.
