[SATLUG] MS piracy case in Russia - followup

[Borries Demeler]

Here is a little followup on the piracy case in Russia...


February 16, 2007
Russian Judge Dismisses Any Penalty in Piracy Case
By ANDREW E. KRAMER 

MOSCOW, Feb. 15 - A Russian judge convicted a provincial
school headmaster on Thursday for using pirated Microsoft software
in school computers, but declined to impose any penalty, saying that
Microsoft's loss was insignificant compared with its overall earnings.

The case has been closely watched as a test of how Russia will enforce
intellectual property rights as it moves closer to membership in the World
Trade Organization. The verdict was broadcast on Russian state television.

Vera Barakina, a judge in a regional court in Vereshagino, about 650
miles east of Moscow, ruled that the principal was guilty of installing
Windows operating systems and software suites on 12 computers used by
his students, and that this had cost Microsoft about $9,700.

But then, reading from a prepared statement, Ms. Barakina called this sum
"insignificant" compared with Microsoft's worldwide income.

The principal, Aleksandr M. Ponosov, who could have been sentenced to
five years in prison, celebrated by uncorking a bottle of Champagne
outside the courthouse.

Mr. Ponosov's case resonated widely here, touching on the capriciousness
of the criminal justice system, something that Russians understand all
too well. With Mr. Ponosov, prosecutors plucked one user of pirated
software from among millions and threatened a five-year sentence.

The prosecutor, Aleksandr V. Troyanov, said in a telephone interview
Thursday that he would appeal the verdict. He criticized the judge's
logic, saying that the damage relative to Microsoft's earnings had no
bearing on the case.

Cheap, pirated software is ubiquitous in Russia, even as the country
grows rich from oil profits. Pirated movies and music are sold openly;
trademark protections are also widely violated, although less openly,
and counterfeit cigarettes, pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods
are common.

The government wants to legalize the software market under the terms
of entry to the World Trade Organization. But any crackdown is bound
to prove unpopular, as has the case against Mr. Ponosov, who has become
something of a folk hero among Russian academics and teachers, who get
by on small salaries.

The case drew the attention of President Vladimir V. Putin, who called the
case "utter nonsense," and the former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev,
who wrote a letter to Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, asking the company
to drop the charges.

In its response to Mr. Gorbachev's letter, Microsoft said it generally
opposed prosecuting teachers for software piracy.

"Our interest is not in prosecuting schools or teachers, it is in helping
students develop the technology skills they need in the 21st century,"
Microsoft said in a statement Thursday, according to Bloomberg News.

Tom Thomson, the executive director of the Coalition for Intellectual
Property Rights in Washington, suggested the judge's rationale for
leniency - that Microsoft is a wealthy corporation - is often used to
justify piracy.

"Obviously, it should not determine how laws should be enforced," he said.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company