United States v. Whitehead

PER CURIAM Opinion; Dissent by Judge BYBEE.

Thomas Michael Whitehead sold over $1 million worth of counterfeit “access cards” that allowed his customers to access DirecTV’s digital satellite feed without paying for it. The jury convicted him of breaking various federal laws, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids the sale of devices that are designed to “circumvent [ ] a technological measure” that protects copyrighted works. 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2)(A). The district court calculated a Guidelines range of 41 to 51 months, but imposed a more lenient sentence of probation,…