Source: RBC Novosibirsk
Author: Anna Ivanova
In the Novosibirsk region, another case on the installation of unlicensed software went to court
According to the prosecutor's office of the Novosibirsk region, a resident of Kuibyshev distributed business cards with information about the provision of software installation services. In January, he installed an unlicensed (counterfeit) copy of the Compass-3D V 17.1 computer software (3D design system) on the computer, the copyright holder of which is Askon-Design Systems LLC and received 800 rubles of remuneration. The case under Part 2 of Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ((illegal use of copyright objects, acquisition, storage of counterfeit copies for the purpose of selling on a large scale) will be considered by the Kuibyshev court. The maximum sanctions are a fine of up to 200 thousand rubles or arrest for up to two years.
The press service of the regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told RBC Novosibirsk correspondent about the number of criminal cases initiated under this article. So, according to the head of the information and public relations department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel Sergei Shchekotin, 11 cases were initiated in 2016, 16 cases in 2017, and 15 cases last year.
Judging by the analysis of data on the website of the regional prosecutor's office, cases under this article were considered by the district courts of Pervomaisky, Leninsky, Dzerzhinsky districts of Novosibirsk. The prosecutor’s office reports that often installers of unlicensed software are identified through advertisements on websites or distributed business cards, then an operative of the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department invites the installer to the office, where, upon installing unlicensed software, the system administrator is caught red-handed.
Microsoft Adobe Corel, 1C and Compass are indicated as the affected copyright holders. The amount of damage is estimated from a few tens to a million rubles. In this case, the remuneration of the installer ranges from several hundred to several thousand rubles.
According to Vitaly Vetrov, the head of the law firm Vetrov and Partners, such cases are rarely initiated in the Novosibirsk Region: “It is mainly external system administrators who are invited by “dummy” clients to deliver programs to be judged.”
According to the prosecutor's office, the punishment for installers of unlicensed software ranges from small fines (according to the decision of the Pervomaisky Court, the installer was fined 8,000 rubles for damages of 165,000 rubles) to conditional imprisonment for a year or two, with an assessment of damage in the amount one million rubles or more. The most serious sentence that could be found was a two-year suspended sentence with a fine of 20,000 rubles.
Directors of companies convicted of using unlicensed software are less likely to be tried. Thus, the Pervomaisky District Court ruled against the director of the construction company CJSC Amity, fined him 90 thousand rubles.
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