Micro$oft und Russland drehen durch.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ridiculed the trial as „utter nonsense.“ Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sent a plea to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates asking him to help spare the defendant from a Siberian prison camp.
Alexander Ponosov, a village school principal, is charged with allegedly overseeing the installation of pirated versions of Microsoft Corp. software on 12 school PCs in something of a test case for Russia’s crackdown on intellectual property law violations.
But the case has sparked criticism in Russia of Microsoft on the assumption that a powerful Western corporation was bringing its corporate might to bear on one man, in this case a bearded history teacher earning $360 a month.
Microsoft says it has nothing to do with the charges against Ponosov.
Russian and Western officials alike have long held that Russia – the biggest producer of pirated goods after China – needs to get tough on the pirates: Bootleg software can be found in secondary schools and other public offices and in street markets around the country.
Violations of intellectual property law were cited as a major impediment to an agreement with the U.S. – signed in November after years of wrangling – paving the way for Russia to join the World Trade Organization.
But as a test case for a crackdown on piracy, Ponosov’s prosecution seems badly misaimed, targeting a small-town school director in the Ural Mountain region of Perm, about 620 miles east of Moscow.
The case appears to have more to do with the lopsided approach taken by local prosecutors – eager to please the leadership in Moscow – in response to international pressure on Russia to clamp down on piracy.
„You know the president is always asked these questions at summits,“ Alexander Troyanov, the district prosecutor pursuing the case, told The Associated Press. „Evidently because of this, work has been stepped up.“
But Putin himself has questioned the rationale behind the case. When it was raised by a reporter at his annual, nationally televised news conference this month, the president dismissed it with a colorful term that translates as „utter nonsense.“ As in fighting drugs, the manufacturers and producers should be targeted rather than the end user, he said.
Troyanov argued that the law makes no distinction – meaning Ponosov is fair game.
„Producers, sellers and users – all bear responsibility,“ he said. „After our investigation we decided that the software had been loaded either with his knowledge or by his direct order.“
Redmond, Wash-based Microsoft has distanced itself from the case.
Longneck
lömmer se… das sin die wahre:
nie zfriede. immer numme no meh. *pff*
rakudave
Russia drops piracy case against teacher
Remember that Russian schoolteacher from a few days back, the one charged with piracy, and the one for whom Bill Gates and Microsoft declined to intervene? Well it turns out that Alexander Ponosov didn’t need any help from Gates — or Mikael Gorbachev, for that matter — as the Perm-based court tasked with trying the case has dismissed all charges and labeled the incident as „trivial.“ As you probably recall, Ponosov is the teacher / principal of a small, 380-student school in the Urals village of Sepych which purchased 12 computers that Ponosov claimed had already been pre-loaded with pirated copies of Microsoft software. Amusingly, in its public rebuff of Gorbachev’s request, Redmond argued that it was „sure that the Russian courts will make a fair decision“ because of the „government’s position on the importance of protecting intellectual property rights“ — and although most observers would probably agree that this is the fairest outcome, we doubt it’s the one that Microsoft had in mind. When informed of the court’s decision, Ponosov stated that „of course, it was trivial,“ and went on to inform the press that „we’re off to drink champagne now“ — and with all that money he saved on software, there’s definitely gonna be some Cristal in the house tonight.
rakudave
die und ihri scheiss lizänze… *kopfschüttel*