Microsoft: Don't be evil; drop lawsuit against software "pirate"
Samuel Van Eerden
February 06, 2007
So were the paraphrased words of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in an open letter to Bill Gates, wherein he begged the Microsoft co-founder to "show mercy and withdraw your complaint against Alexander Ponosov." The prosecution is attempting to not only fire Ponosov--who is a teacher at a middle school in Perm, Russia--but to then send him to a Siberian prison camp. This comes as a result of Russia's heavy crackdown on piracy in an attempt to join the World Trade Organization.
Reports say that the teacher was using school computers which had installed copies of unlicensed Microsoft software on them. Microsoft feels this is an afront to their intellectual property rules and has therefore taken up the suit.
Gorbachev argued that Ponosov didn't even know the illegal programs were on the computers, let alone that he put them there, and called out to Bill Gates to drop a suit against a man "who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff [at Microsoft]."
The former Nobel Prize winner's letter came after President Vladimir Putin remarked that "To grab someone for buying a computer somewhere and start threatening him with prison is complete nonsense, simply ridiculous."
So far Microsoft is ignoring the pleas. Monday afternoon they released a statement that "Mr. Ponosov's case is a criminal case and as such was initiated and investigated by the public prosecutor's office in Russia . . . We are sure that the Russian courts will make a fair decision."
The statement continued by saying that "[Microsoft] respect[s] the Russian government's position on the importance of protecting intellectual property rights."
Reports say that the teacher was using school computers which had installed copies of unlicensed Microsoft software on them. Microsoft feels this is an afront to their intellectual property rules and has therefore taken up the suit.
Gorbachev argued that Ponosov didn't even know the illegal programs were on the computers, let alone that he put them there, and called out to Bill Gates to drop a suit against a man "who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff [at Microsoft]."
The former Nobel Prize winner's letter came after President Vladimir Putin remarked that "To grab someone for buying a computer somewhere and start threatening him with prison is complete nonsense, simply ridiculous."
So far Microsoft is ignoring the pleas. Monday afternoon they released a statement that "Mr. Ponosov's case is a criminal case and as such was initiated and investigated by the public prosecutor's office in Russia . . . We are sure that the Russian courts will make a fair decision."
The statement continued by saying that "[Microsoft] respect[s] the Russian government's position on the importance of protecting intellectual property rights."
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