Man Pleads Guilty to Pirating, Selling Rosetta Stone Software

One can't help but wonder if Christopher Adkins knows the word for "steal" in a variety of languages.

Adkins, 36, of of Aurora, Ill., pleaded guilty in federal court last week to charges related to pirating and selling software from language giant Rosetta Stone, which is based here in Rosslyn.

He pleaded guilty to felony criminal copyright infringement in connection with his sale of counterfeit copies of Rosetta Stone language-learning software, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Adkins’s sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 13, when he will face a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

For more than three years, Adkins sold more than $100,000 in copyright-infringing computer software, according to court documents. He sold the software through the website Learningpartners.mybisi.com, which he operated from his home in Aurora.

Adkins admitted that he downloaded pirated versions of Rosetta Stone language-learning products, including Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, German and Korean, and then copied the programs onto CDs, according to a news release.

He then sold the discs to online customers for prices discounted at more than 50 percent off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the real thing. 

The case was investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office.