Microsoft steps up action against software piracy

DQC News Bureau

NEW DELHI: Microsoft has taken enforcement action against two leading dealers
based on evidence that they were selling computers loaded with pirated software.
This activity amounts to a violation of Microsoft's copyright under the India
Copyright Act, 1957. In response to Microsoft's copyright claims and the
evidence presented, the Delhi high court has passed an interim restraining order
requiring Kadam Marketing Limited, Nehru Place New Delhi and The Computer Park,
Sector 18, NOIDA to desist from copying, reproducing, selling or loading
unlicensed Microsoft software on to computer hard disks amounting to copyright
infringement.

In its plea to the court, Microsoft has claimed that pirated/unlicensed
software was provided by the dealers, free of cost to consumers as an incentive
to purchase computers from them. Independent court commissioners were appointed
by the high court to examine computers loaded with pirated software at the
dealers' premises respectively and seize them. The court commissioners have
filed their search and seizure report before the Delhi high court. The case is
currently pending trial.

Welcoming the Delhi high court's decision, Brian Campbell, Director -
Original Software Initiative, Microsoft India said, “It is critical to
understand the damage that pirated software can cause to discerning consumers
and the economy at large. Every year, millions of consumers and businesses are
hurt by counterfeit software that they have acquired unwittingly, and many
companies that license legitimate software have difficulty competing with
artificially low prices offered by software pirates. Consumers, businesses, and
resellers continually ask us for help in mitigating the threat posed by pirates.
It is imperative for enterprises as well as individual consumers to bring down
the existing levels of piracy in the country so that India's reputation as a
knowledge hub is not negatively impacted. Microsoft will continue to take legal
action against dealers that sell illegal pirated software to their customers.”

Microsoft's legal action was based on evidence that computers sold by these
two dealers were loaded with Microsoft software, but were not accompanied by any
certificates of authenticity (COA), user manuals or original installation CDs,
which always accompany sale of any original licensed software program of
Microsoft. Microsoft's claim in the respective suits is that these dealers
were indulging in hard disk loading of pirated Microsoft software programs by
offering the customers to install the software free of cost prior to delivery.