- Ponosov's Case
Ponosov's case is an action against Aleksandr Ponosov, a teacher and principal of a high school in
Sepych village ofPerm Krai ofRussia . This case caused significant controversy in Russianmass media andblog s as well as among Russianpolitician s andlawyer s (especially copyright law experts).Aleksandr Ponosov was charged with illegal use of unlicensed (pirate) copies of
Microsoft Windows andMicrosoft Office on 12 computers being used in the school (article of theRussian Criminal Code ) and of damnification of 266,593.63ruble s (about 10,000USD ) toMicrosoft Corporation . The charges could result in 5 years of imprisonment. The unlicensed copies were pre-installed on the computers by theoriginal equipment manufacturer prior to the school's purchase.Case details
In early 2005, the school bought 20 new PCs with preinstalled Microsoft software. In late May of 2006, a procursive inspection revealed unlicensed copies of Microsoft software on 12 of the 20 computers.
When the academic year began, (September 2006) students learned information science in front of turned off displays.
Court history
Ponosov pleaded not guilty.
On
9 January 2007 , a second hearing was conducted in the town of Vereshchagino,Perm Krai with before JudgeVera Barakina . The prosecution presented a bill of particulars as well as witnesses. Official representatives of the injured party, Microsoft Corporation, did not appear.A third hearing was held on
29 January 2007 . Official representatives of Microsoft regional dealer stated that the employee who had sold the computers with pirated copies of Windows was imposed a fine of 10,000 rubles (about 380 USdollar s).During the fourth hearing on
12 February 2007 Ponosov refused to apologize to Microsoft in order to settle the case. [cite news |url=http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2007/02/12/235414 |title=Ponosov refused to make peace with Microsoft |author=cnews.ru |accessdate=2007-03-04 |date=2007-02-12 ] Prosecution demanded that Ponosov be fined 3,000 rubles (about $115). [cite news |url=http://lenta.ru/news/2007/02/14/ponossoff/ |title=Ponosov's evil deeds valued at 3 thousand rubles |author=Lenta.ru |date=2007-02-14 |accessdate=2007-03-04 ru icon] Surprisingly, Judge Barakina closed the case on February 15 "for insignificance"; this left both parties unsatisfied with prosecutors deciding toappeal , on the basis that the decision was "unlawful" [cite news |url=http://lenta.ru/news/2007/02/26/ponosov/ |title=Prosecutors appeal on closure of Ponosov case |author=Lenta.ru |date=2007-02-26 |accessdate=2007-03-04 | ru icon] , while Ponosov filed an appeal, demanding a not guilty verdict. [cite news |url=http://lenta.ru/news/2007/02/26/ponosov1/ |title=Ponosov demanded not guilty verdict |author=Lenta.ru |date=2007-02-26 |accessdate=2007-03-04 ru icon]In March Russian IT site Cnews.ru accused Ponosov of peculation. According to Cnews, Ponosov arranged purchase of 12 computers for 26,000 rubles each from his friend Semyon Yevdokimov, who bought them for 8,200 rubles from a Microsoft partner. [cite web
url=http://www.cnews.ru/news/top/index.shtml?2007/03/09/239521
title=Principal Ponosov turns to be a werewolf?
author=Cnews.ru
date=2007-03-09
accessdate=2007-03-27 ru icon] Cnews believes that total difference of 213,600 rubles was shared between two friends. Ponosov replied with denial of this information. [cite web
url=http://alex-ponosov.livejournal.com/6163.html
title=Entry from Aleksandr Ponosov's journal
author=Aleksandr Ponosov
publisher=LiveJournal
date=2007-03-11
accessdate=2007-03-27 ru icon]On
27 March 2007 Perm Krai court cancelled decision of court of first instance and sent the case back for reconsideration. [cite web
url=http://lenta.ru/news/2007/03/27/ponosov/index.htm
title=Director Ponosov's case is returned to the court
author=Lenta.ru
date=2007-03-27
accessdate=2007-03-27] ru icon]On
7 May 2007 the trial court found that Ponosov had caused Microsoft damages of 266,000 roubles and ruled that Ponosov was guilty while fining him 5,000 roubles ($194.4). [cite news | title =Teacher Fined for Microsoft Piracy | work =Reuters News Service | pages = | language =English | date =2007-05-07 | url =http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/05/07/russia.microsoft.reut/index.html | accessdate =2007-05-08 ]Public opinion
Vladimir Putin
During a
press conference in the Kremlin on1 February 2007 ,Vladimir Putin (Russian president) said: “If the legislation which, as I see, is not very adequate, needs to be amended, then we will reflect on this. But to grab someone for buying a computer somewhere and start threatening him with prison, is complete nonsense, simply ridiculous.” [ [http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/02/01/1309_type82915type82917_117609.shtml Transcript of Press Conference with the Russian and Foreign Media] ]Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Lebedev
On
5 February 2007 Mikhail Gorbachev (ex-president of theUSSR ) andAlexander Lebedev (deputy of RussianState Duma ) published inNovaya Gazeta an open letter toBill Gates (chairman ofMicrosoft ) requesting withdrawal of the action against Alexander Ponosov [ [http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2007/08/26.html Open Letter to Mr. Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation] ru icon] . Microsoft responded with statement from Microsoft Russia chairmanOlga Dergunova that "Microsoft did not instigate the prosecution against Mr. Ponosov. This case was initiated by Russian authorities under Russian law" and that they "do not believe that a case of this kind warrants criminal prosecution". [cite web
url=http://www.microsoft.com/rus/news/issues/2007/02/news_20070207.mspx
title=Microsoft reply to M.S. Gorbachev
author=Olga Dergunova
publisher=Microsoft
date=2007-02-07
accessdate=2007-03-27 en icon ru icon]Microsoft
On
3 February 2007 , Microsoft Corporation's Russian office published a statement saying that Microsoft does not consider this case a malignant copyright violation, and Microsoft did not claim and would not claim in the future any civil suit against Ponosov. [ [http://www.microsoft.com/rus/news/issues/2007/02/ponosov.mspx Statement of Russian office of Microsoft] ru icon]Mass media reactions
Mikhail Seslavinskiy , director ofRospechat , stated that he is ready to pay the fine on behalf of Ponosov if he is found guilty. [ [http://lenta.ru/news/2007/01/22/director/ Rospechat takes side of pirate from village school] ru icon]Follow-ups
In February 2008, Ponosov resigned as school headmaster and began researching the use of
Open Source software in the Russian education system. He joined efforts with former parliamentarianViktor Alksnis to start the Center of Free Technology, a non-profit initiative to work on such tasks.In fall 2007 Russian authorities sponsored pilot usage of Linux-based software in the schools of
Perm Krai ,Tatarstan andTomsk Oblast to see if it's possible to implement school computer studies relying on Open Source products.References
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