Russian Court Throws Out Case Against Accused Pirate School Teacher
For those of you who remember our school teacher friend Mr. Ponosov it may make you happy to know that recently a Russian court in the city of Perm threw out the charges of piracy brought against him. Ponosov's lawyers claimed that the twelve PCs that arrived at his school came with the pirated Microsoft software pre-installed and therefore he could not be held responsible. The case, probably a response to international pressure on Russia to crack down on piracy, may have been triggered by the fact that Russia has been ranked by industry experts as second in the world for illegal use of software and media only after China.
The trial was seen as a response by the authorities to international pressure to crack down on piracy in Russia. Industry experts say Russia ranks second only to China in use of illegal computer software and bootlegged music. "We're off to drink champagne now," Mr Ponosov told the Associated Press news agency after the court ruling. "Of course, it was trivial," he said. Mr Ponosov earlier told the BBC that Russian prosecutors had brought the case against him and he was unaware of any Microsoft claim against him. He said the 12 new computers at his school had been delivered with the unlicensed software already installed. The school in the Urals village of Sepych has 380 pupils.
