Ponosov's Case
Encyclopedia
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Aleksandr Ponosov was charged with illegal use of unlicensed (pirate) copies of Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
on 12 computers being used in the school (article 146.3 of the Russian Criminal Code
Russian Criminal Code
The Russian Criminal Code is the prime source of Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The previous Criminal Code of the Russian Federation came into force on 1 January 1997. Moreover, on the 8 January President Yeltsin signed the Criminal Correctional Code to regulate the...
) and of damnification of 266,593.63 ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
s (about 10,000 USD) to Microsoft Corporation. The charges could result in 5 years of imprisonment. The unlicensed copies were pre-installed on the computers by the original equipment manufacturer
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
prior to the school's purchase. Ultimately, Ponosov was found not guilty. This case caused significant controversy in Russian mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s as well as among Russian politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s and lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
s (especially copyright law experts).
Case details
In early 2005, Ponosov's school bought 20 new PCs with preinstalled Microsoft software. In late May 2006, a procursive inspection revealed unlicensed copies of Microsoft software on 12 of the 20 computers. When the academic year began in September 2006, students were taught information science in front of inoperative computers.Court history
Ponosov pleaded not guilty in his first hearing.On 9 January 2007, a second hearing was conducted in the town of Vereshchagino
Vereshchagino, Perm Krai
-History:It was founded in 1898 as a settlement serving the construction of Ochyorskaya railway station of the Perm–Vyatka railroad. In 1904, the station was renamed Voznesenskaya , and in 1916—Vereshchagino...
, Perm Krai
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
before Judge Vera 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 US dollar
Dollar
The dollar is the name of the official currency of many countries, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.-Etymology:...
s).
During the fourth hearing on 12 February 2007 Ponosov refused to apologize to Microsoft in order to settle the case. The prosecution demanded that Ponosov be fined 3,000 rubles (about $115). Surprisingly, Judge Barakina closed the case on February 15 "for insignificance"; this left both parties unsatisfied with prosecutors deciding to appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
, on the basis that the decision was "unlawful", while Ponosov filed an appeal, demanding a not guilty verdict.
On 27 March 2007 Perm Krai court set aside the decision of the court of first instance and remitted the case for reconsideration.
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).
On 19 December 2008 Perm Krai court repealed the sentence of Vereshchagino's court and found Ponosov not guilty.
Vladimir Putin
During a press conference in the Kremlin on 1 February 2007, Russian president Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
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.”
Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Lebedev
On 5 February 2007 Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
(ex-president of the USSR) and Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev is a Russian businessman, referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs.In May 2008, he was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest Russians and as the 358th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $3.1 billion...
(deputy of Russian State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
) published in Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....
an open letter to Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
(chairman of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
) requesting withdrawal of the action against Alexander Ponosov. Microsoft responded with statement from Microsoft Russia chairman Olga 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".
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.Follow-ups
In fall 2007 Russian authorities sponsored pilot usage of Linux-based software in the schools of Perm KraiPerm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
, Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
and Tomsk Oblast
Tomsk Oblast
Tomsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Tomsk. Population:...
to see if it's possible to implement school computer studies relying on Open Source products.
In February 2008, Ponosov resigned as school headmaster and began researching the use of Open Source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software in the Russian education system. He joined efforts with former parliamentarian Viktor Alksnis
Viktor Alksnis
Viktor Alksnis is an ethnic Latvian Russian politician and former Soviet Air Force colonel. He is the chairman of Russian Center of Free Technologies, an organization intended to promote Free Software and open standards in Russia...
to start the Center of Free Technology, a non-profit initiative to work on such tasks.
As a result of the pilot programs, in October 2008, Russian officials mandated that all schools use open source software.