The Justice Department has now filed charges, to which the two accused men have pled guilty.

In a historical case in technology news, two men who have been accused of owning a mobile app piracy site for Android devices have now pled guilty to the charges that had been filed against them by the Department of Justice.

This is the first time that the Department of Justice has landed counterfeit application distribution convictions.

This week, Nicholas Anthony Narbone gave his plea of “guilty” to a single count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. The second man, Thomas Allen Dye, the “co-conspirator” to Narbone, according to the Department of Justice, also entered his guilty plea, though his was made for the same charge earlier on in March.

Both Narbone and Dye were both overseeing a pirate mobile app distribution site.

Through Appbucket.net, which was labeled an “alternative online market”, authorities have alleged that the two men managed to illegally distribute over 1 million copies of the apps that were each copyrighted. Those illegal downloads would have totaled over $700,000 in value, according to federal prosecutors. Moreover, they were distributed without having received any consent from the developers of those applications.

In 2012, American law enforcement agencies seized two different android piracy websites, one of which was Appbucket. Similar charges have been laid with regards to the SnappzMarket.com website. In that caise Kody Peterson, a 22 year old, is suspected of being the individual behind that market and has had government charges filed against him. That site, which was targeted by federal authorities, is believed to have robbed mobile app development companies of an even larger sum of money.

According to prosecutors, the pirated app distribution that ran from May 2011 to August 2012 led to approximately 1 million downloads which would have been worth an estimated $1.7 million. As Peterson did not receive any mention in the press release that was issued on the subject by the Department of Justice, it can be assumed that the case is likely ongoing.

In the mobile app piracy case involving Narbone (who is 26 years old) and Dye (who is 21 years old), the sentencing will occur on July 8th and June 12th, respectively. Both of those individuals could spend up to 5 years in jail.

That said, the company is still in critical care as it continues to battle to break even in its cash flow.

Investors have turned their eyes back on BlackBerry Ltd., once more, as the company’s strategies for cutting costs and preserving funds have led it to actually report a solid balance sheet in its fourth quarter earnings, which were released in recent news.

This will help to give the company the time that it needs to be able to attempt to turn its situation around.

BlackBerry brought itself about as close to death as a company can. However, now that it has broken through the other side of that experience, it is now working on the “specifics of charting a course to promised cash flow break-even by the fiscal first quarter.” This technology news is according to RBC Capital Markets analyst, Mark Sue.

Sue pointed out that liquidity is no longer one of BlackBerry’s largest risks within the near future.

He pointed out that the reason that liquidity isn’t among the struggles that the company will face in the near future is because of the tax refunds that it will receive, this quarter, which are expected to total approximately $500 million (U.S.). Moreover, it will receive an additional $300 to $400 million in tax refunds due to its recent sales in real estate. The result will be an additional $2.2 billion in net cash.

Sue’s belief is that if it is possible for the transition between the mobile devices manufacturer and Foxconn Technology Group’s production to increase the blended gross margins of the company could make it into the mid to high thirties, then it should also be possible for the cash flow of that handset maker to reach the break even point, which is an estimated $600 million for its standard operations.

The RBC Capital Markets analyst explained that “Should service revenue attrition continue or if Foxconn smartphone demand doesn’t improve, BlackBerry will need to cut more open.” He underscored the importance of the enterprise business stability at the company, which would represent an enterprise subscribership of an estimated 15 to 20 million, which would mean between five and seven million shipments of handsets each year, on top of service revenues of $1.6 billion.