Piracy case collapses in Russia

[Synapse Syndrome]

A Russian court has thrown out a criminal case against a rural headteacher
accused of using pirated Microsoft software in his school.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6364953.stm

ss.

 

[Jon]

A Russian court has thrown out a criminal case against a rural headteacher
accused of using pirated Microsoft software in his school.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6364953.stm

ss.

Good for them. A triumph for keeping things in perspective.

 

[Saucy Lemon]

I'm sort of glad. While I'm against what I would call dedicated piracy [a
room of CD burners churning out copies to sell], I think governments should
leave individuals alone, especially when there is clear doubt as to whether
a copyright violation is deliberate or malicious. The only thing that should
have happened is that the gentleman could have been asked to remove the
invalid copies from the machine(s) and that's it, if that (considering the
computers were for educational purposes). If he cooperated: no court
appearances, no charges, no jail time - it's just not good for society for
people to be that much at each other's throats.

And it disappoints me that Microsoft didn't somehow step in and say they
didn't want individuals persecuted -whoops- prosecuted over minor copyright
violation. All's they need do is simply have said they'd 'a been satisfied
with the removal of the offending software and that they would find a
prosecution of such a nature against this gentleman decidedly distasteful ..

'Come on Microsoft .. clear your minds on the issue.

 

[Alexander Suhovey]

And it disappoints me that Microsoft didn't somehow step in and say they
didn't want individuals persecuted -whoops- prosecuted over minor
copyright violation. All's they need do is simply have said they'd 'a been
satisfied with the removal of the offending software and that they would
find a prosecution of such a nature against this gentleman decidedly
distasteful ..

AFAIK they did. Olga Dergunova, Head of Microsoft Russia, was quoted to say
exactly that.

Following links are in Russian but you can use online translators to get the
idea.

http://www.prime-tass.ru/news/show.asp?id=1507&ct=articles
http://www.newsru.com/russia/08feb2007/ponosov.html