Russian teacher found guilty of Windows piracy in retrial

You may have thought that you saw last of Alexander Ponosov when Russian courts dropped those piracy charges against the headmaster / schoolteacher accused of purchasing PCs pre-loaded with illegal copies of Windows, but in a rather unexpected turn of events, a new trial partially initiated by the accused himself has resulted in a guilty verdict and 5,000 rouble ($194) fine. You'll recall that Ponosov claimed to be unaware that the sub-contractor-provided machines ran pirated software when he bought them -- a fact that prompted Mikael Gorbachev to unsuccessfully seek Bill Gates' intervention on the defendant's behalf -- and was so outraged at the charges that he joined prosecutors in filing an appeal after the case was dropped, in order to have his innocence put on record. Well that may not have been the best idea, with the court charging Ponosov (who plans to appeal) the equivalent of half-a-month's salary for what it said was a 266,000 rouble loss incurred by Microsoft -- which made sure to note that its "interest is not in prosecuting schools or teachers, it is in helping students develop the technology skills they need in the 21st century." Redmond's response to the verdict went on to clarify that "Mr. Ponosov's case was initiated by Russian authorities under Russian law. Microsoft neither initiated nor has any plans to bring any action against Mr. Ponosov." Well played, guys: make the Russians look like the bad guys here, even though it seems that the only people in the whole country who even cared about prosecuting this guy were a few activists hoping to get in good with the World Trade Organization.

[Thomas Watts @ May 7th 2007 11:39AM]

Uh let's not forget, however, that an illegal act WAS actually performed... whether the man knew it or not is another question entirely regarding HIS guilt. But the original case was dismissed by the judge saying more or less "it's ok to steal from MS because they're really rich." I hope I'm not the only one with a problem with that as general principle...

[Jeff Lewis @ May 7th 2007 11:41AM]

"Well played, guys: make the Russians look like the bad guys here..."

Hold on here - how is saying 'we didn't start this nor do we support it' make Microsoft bad guys here? This sounds like you're implying Microsoft made this statement in order to defect responsibility by 'making' the Russians look bad.

If Microsoft did not, in fact, press charges against this guy, then there's no way for them to 'undo' the charges. It's the Russian government who would have pressed charges and it's they who would have to drop the charges.

WHICH THEY DID!

People read your own copy - the guy himself forced the process and then was found guilty. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Microsoft. It wasn't their fault. It wasn't anything they could fix.

Ragging on them for this one is just shooting fish in a barrel and kind of sleazy 'journalism'.

[Eric @ May 7th 2007 12:42PM]

This is a technology blog, and like most tech blogs, papers, magazines, they hold little weight inside the "real" tech community. They are so biased they can't control themselves, any news that even hints at MS they jump at the chance to attack them.

Engadget isn't a reliable, truthful or even a good source of information. It's basically a tabloid for geeks. Spy photos, rumors, etc.

[ph @ May 7th 2007 11:45AM]

I live in spain, and I know of only one person who uses a legit copy of windows. A school wanted to switch to mac, but then realized it was harder to find pirated software for a mac. EAch computer they own has 2000 dollars worth of programs on it, all of which are pirated.

[Mike @ May 7th 2007 12:00PM]

It's no newsflash that 90% of the software used outside the USA is pirated. Current licensing models used by most software companies only work inside the USA.

[Ben H @ May 7th 2007 12:22PM]

Jeff, don't even bother. The "journalists" at engadget have been on the Apple fanboy wagon for a while now. Then again, this is the site with relations to Styledash, That's Fit, Luxist, etc. so you really have to take anything the engadget guys say with a grain of salt.

[Liqwid @ May 7th 2007 12:23PM]

Arrrrggh!

[Tom @ May 7th 2007 1:28PM]

Yes, Engadget is certainly not a reputable publication. It's bias is almost dripping off the webpages on just about any subject.

[zoara @ May 8th 2007 7:28AM]

Tom; in which direction are they biased? Seriously? They get accused of being pro MS, anti-MS, pro-Apple, ant-Apple, pro-Sony, anti-Sony... which surely means that they are probably pretty even-handed.

[Db @ May 7th 2007 2:49PM]

You may wish to check your own copyright laws by use of that Disney PotC picture your using :)

[Matt B @ May 7th 2007 3:52PM]

I love that picture. I want to find one for my backround but can't find a high enough rez one to use.

[CapWKidd @ May 7th 2007 4:06PM]

I would love a full size version of that image.... anyone know where I can get one?

[Liqwid @ May 7th 2007 4:16PM]

http://www.skinbase.org/files/archive/shots/286/XP_Pirates_Edition.jpg

It's a bootskin used to cover up the Windows XP loading screen, so it's pretty low resolution.

[michael @ May 7th 2007 4:27PM]

All the commenters who think Engadger has a bias against Microsoft are probaly right. I mean, what ad have you seen most often lately on the top right of the page? Let me tell you : Get a mac ads. Wouldn't surprise me if Apple pays tons of journalists and sites to do some good reporting. That's considering the unusually high amounts of macs-to-PC ratios you find on the internet in comments and whatever.

[Aaron @ May 7th 2007 9:25PM]

Actually, Michael, the one I most recently noticed, about 4 minutes ago was a Zune ad.

[Aaron @ May 7th 2007 9:21PM]

While I'm not going to say that
ENGADGET HAS NO CREDIBILITY!!!1!!one!
I don't enjoy the anti-MS bias. Evan, why have you made them the bad guy here? Should they have taken on the Russian court system for a guy pirating THEIR product?

[Tom Gabriele @ May 8th 2007 6:19AM]

so a $198 fine is half a month's salary? with a budget so tight that it can barely afford to pay the headmaster, i dont really blame the school. it would be like 4 years budget to put legal windows on all the computers. stealing is still not right. linux is free.

[zoara @ May 8th 2007 7:34AM]

Tom Gabriele; remember that $198 will have a different amount of purchasing power depending on which country you are in. I have a friend who (until recently) worked in Russia, and whilst $400 a month isn't a great wage, it's not particularly that bad either.

Anyway, this will probably end up as an 'out of court settlement', ie a bribe paid to the judges. Bribery is commonplace in Russia; my friend once had to pay a bribe to be let out of a car park, then another to the taxi driver so he'd open the boot (er, trunk) of the car so they could get their luggage. It's a way of life.

[Mike Young @ May 13th 2007 1:02AM]

Microsoft may not be going after schools or teachers but it looks like the company is pursuing infringement claims for alleged improper sales of student-discounted software. As for this particular case, Russia is just playing lip service to the WTO. Just like when the Chinese government it announces a software piracy bust. It means enough money didn't change hands for the operation to continue.