In the News

SIRB prepares unlicensed firms for BSA crackdown
July 22, 2009

The Software Industry Research Board (SIRB) is lending a helping hand to businesses worried by the recent surge in software audits, after the Business Software Alliance (BSA) unleashed its campaign to rid London of software piracy last month. Read more...

Symantec Awarded $18.6 Million From Two Software-Piracy Cases
July 9, 2009 CUPERTINO, CA

Symantec Corp. was awarded $18.6 million in damages in cases against two distributors selling counterfeit Symantec software. One judgment, $9.7 million, was against V-Micro Inc., a New Jersey-based company. The 2nd judgment of $8.9 million was against Connecticut-based Higher Model Computer, LLC.
Symantec filed the cases in federal court and included claims alleging copyright and trademark infringement and fraud against both V-Micro and Higher Model for selling counterfeit products such as Norton SystemWorks, Norton AntiVirus, Norton Ghost, and pcAnywhere.

Pirate Bay bought for $7.8 million USD
June 30, 2009

Global Gaming Factory X AB has announced its acquisition of Pirate Bay, an online company that makes video games, movies and music available for sharing among users. In April, 2009, the founders of Pirate Bay were convicted for breaking Sweden's copyright laws, and ordered to pay 30 million Swedish Kronor (2.6 million USD).

"We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site." says Hans Pandeya, CEO of Sweden's Global Gaming Factory. Will the new legit business still attract as many users? Most people are skeptical.

Soho House paid BSA for Software Piracy
June 22, 2009

Soho House is a private member's club located in London. BSA (Business Software Alliance) announced that Soho House has paid an undisclosed amount for under-licensing of Microsoft software. “Businesses which persist in installing and using illegal software are infringing copyright legislation and directly threaten the business environment at the heart of London’s growth, particularly in the vital technology and creative sectors." said Alyna Cope, spokesperson for the BSA’s UK Country Committee.

Copyright law violators ordered to pay 3.0 million Swedish crowns
April 17, 2009

The Stockholm district court convicted four man for breaking Sweden's copyright laws via the file sharing site called Pirate Bay dot com. "The court has sentenced each of them to one year in prison." the court said in a statement. The court also ordered the defendants to pay just over 30 million Swedish Kronor (2.6 million USD).

Companies including MGM, Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox Films, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI were also asking for damages of more than 100 million Kronor (11.9 million USD) to cover lost revenues.
 

California small company wins $388 million lawsuit against Microsoft
April 9th, 2009
A Rhode Island federal jury found that Microsoft Windows XP and some Office programs infringe on a Uniloc patent issued in Australia and in the United States in 1992 and in 1993 respectively. The case was originally filed in 2003 naming XP and Office as treading on its IP.

Uniloc Inc, a California software company, has won a $388 million patent infringement case against Microsoft. The award is the fifth largest on record in patent cases, said Uniloc’s attorney Paul Hayes of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo in Boston.

Software inventor Rick Richardson, came up with a way to generates unique identities for licensed users and prevents unauthorized use or copying of programs.  “Richardson disclosed his solution to Microsoft in 1993 and it was our allegation that they subsequently incorporated the technology in Windows and Office products in 2001,” Hayes said.

Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster said it was disappointed in the verdict, and Microsoft will appeal. "We believe that we do not infringe, that the patent is invalid and that this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported," said a Microsoft spokesman. "We will ask the court to overturn the verdict."

Google and Citrix Systems settle with inventor,
March 10, 2009
Judah Klausner, the inventor of "visual voicemail" settled with Google and Citrix Systems. Both companies will license the technology owned by Klausner Technologies Inc. Klausner has won settlements from Apple , Skype and LG Electronics in the past.
 

Dog helps fight piracy
March 06, 2009

An Irish Labrador Paddy uncovered 35,000 pirated movie DVDs in Malaysian warehouses. Many of the discs were destined for export to Singapore. Paddy was specially trained to detect chemicals in the discs. Six warehouses were shut down by officials from the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Malaysia's trade and consumer affairs ministry. MPA said its member companies lost 6.1 billion dollars to worldwide piracy in 2005, about 1.2 billion dollars of that came from piracy in the Asian region.

A man gets jail time for selling counterfeit computer software
February 18, 2009
Timothy Dunaway of Texas, was sentenced to 3 years and 5 months in prison for selling counterfeit computer software on the Internet. The total retail value of the counterfeit software was worth more than $1 million US dollars. Between 2004 and 2008, Dunaway sold a large volume of downloadable counterfeit software without authorization from the copyright owners, the Department of Justice said.

Judge Reed O'Connor of US District Court for the Northern District of Texas sentenced Dunaway to pay $810,000 in restitution. He also ordered Dunaway to turn over a Ferrari 348 TB and a Rolex watch he purchased with money from unauthorized software sales. Dunaway made his illegal sales on about 40 websites that he operated.

Internet piracy trial opens in Sweden
Feb 16, 2009
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Four people who run one of the world's top websites for illegal downloading go on trial in Sweden Monday, in the latest battle pitting the entertainment industry against advocates of file sharing. Read More..

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