Ok, I think that may justify using the word "counterfeit" then.
> There are documents from him where he's selling them for $20.
The thing is, it would have been perfectly legal for him to sell Debian CDs for $20. That would still have made the old computers usable again. It's good to make use of old computers, but I think the implied argument of having to copy Windows recovery CDs to save old computers is nonsense.
The story just puzzles me. Maybe he didn't realise that you can sell free software[1]?
All of his protestation - "I was only selling them for cost" (a lie), and "I was trying to extend the life of computers" (linux would have done that, and the free downloads of Windows would have done that) - is the defence he tried to mount against the criminal charge.
That defence was rejected by the court.
He wasn't always selling them for 25cents. There are documents from him where he's selling them for $20.