AfterDawn: News

Russian piracy case gets retrial

A Russian piracy case against a head teacher has been ordered to go to retrial by a Russian court. Alexander Ponosov was accused of installing pirated copies of a Windows operating system and copies of Microsoft Word on several school computers. He denied the claims and said the software came pre-installed with the computers and that he didn't know it wasn't legitimate. A lower court had dismissed the case as "trivial".

But now a higher court has ruled that it should proceed. The trial has been seen as a response to international pressure to crack down on piracy in Russia. Russia ranks second to China for use of pirated software and music. Russian President Vladimir Putin said previously that the manufacturers of pirated goods should be targeted and not the consumers.



Microsoft has distanced itself from the case, claiming it had nothing to do with the charges and had opted last year not to bring any civil action. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called upon Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to intervene.

Source:
BBC News

Written by: James Delahunty @ 27 Mar 2007 8:12

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• 4 comments

• georgeluv

  those crazy russians, they bootleg everything from mp3s to name brand vodka

  27.3.2007 09:17 #1

• krkm120

  lol

  27.3.2007 10:01 #2

• scorpNZ

  I assume the teacher has done it to help his pupils get the necessary experiance in whatever learning is required at school,to me that's a blight on the government itself for not providing the necessary tools in the first place further more it's a big blight on microsoft for not taking the initiative and making a deal with the school to purchase the licences for a small fee or comming to some other arrangement,did'nt i read somewhere that ol billy gates was giving affordable computers to Africa ??,to me microsoft have missed out on an excellant advertising opportunity

  27.3.2007 18:01 #3

• roverite

  Quote:Microsoft has distanced itself from the case, claiming had nothing to do with the charges and had opted last year not to bring any civil action.This has nothing to do with Microsoft, and it is probably some attempt to get at the teacher. You know how these things work, and the teacher in question has probably said,done or taught something that goes against what the heads of state want.
  
  Remember Chechnya!!!

  27.3.2007 23:41 #4