Rainer Wittich, Software Piracy, Louisiana 2023

A River Ridge man and his Harahan-based company have been sentenced for manufacturing and selling pirated Mercedes-Benz software. Rainer Wittich, age 66, and his company, The Brinson Company, were each sentenced to five years of probation.

According to court documents, Wittich owned The Brinson Company, which sold replacement parts and diagnostic equipment for Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The company began developing, manufacturing and selling non-authentic versions of the Mercedes-Benz Star Diagnostic System (SDS) in about 2001.

The SDS is a portable tablet-type computer that contains proprietary software created by Mercedes-Benz to diagnose and repair its automobiles. The software requires a code or ‘license key’ to access. The Brinson Company admitted to obtaining the software without authorization, modifying and duplicating it, and installing it on laptop computers that served as the SDS units.

The company also admitted to purchasing software for the non-authentic SDS units from an individual in the United Kingdom. After Mercedes-Benz notified the individual that his conduct was in violation of the law, representatives of The Brinson Company and its co-conspirator companies discussed plans to have him ‘go underground and off the radar’ to continue providing assistance and support in the production of non-authentic SDS units.

A genuine SDS unit sold for up to $22,000, and purchasers of the SDS paid Mercedes-Benz several thousands of dollars per year to receive regular software updates. The Brinson Company sold approximately 725 non-authentic SDS devices, and one of its co-conspirators sold at least 95 devices. A non-authentic SDS unit sold for up to $11,000.

The case was investigated by the Cyber Task Force of the FBI’s New Orleans Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jordan Ginsberg and Myles Ranier and Senior Counsel Evan Williams of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section.

As part of the sentence, The Brinson Company was ordered to forfeit $150,000 and assist the victim, Daimler AG (parent company of Mercedes-Benz), in compiling a list of all customers to whom it provided the infringing devices or software. Wittich was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.

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