interesting story

[Igor Gueths]

Hi all. Hope this is of interest.

                      Did Microsoft Flirt With Piracy?
                   
                  Complaints about open-source software policy reveal piracy rap 
                  in France.
                  Kim Zetter, special to PCWorld.com
                  Thursday, May 09, 2002
                  While Microsoft cracks down on software pirates the world 
                  over, the software giant itself was quietly convicted of 
                  piracy charges in France last fall--and the case, while 
                  supposedly under appeal, may cost the company some business. 
                  The French division of Microsoft is facing a fine of about 
                  $422,000 for illegal use of another company's source code in 
                  an animation program called Softimage 3D. The program has been 
                  used to create such films as The Matrix, Men in Black, and 
                  Star Wars. But the dispute itself was cited by a governmental 
                  buyer who contends Microsoft should not complain about pirates 
                  when it is guilty of the same transgression. Microsoft did not 
                  respond to requests for comment. 
                  Borrowed Code
                  The issue started in 1995 when Microsoft France purchased 
                  Softimage, a Canadian company that developed the 3D CGI 
                  animation program Softimage 3D. The acquired company was 
                  accused of illegally lifting source code from a proprietary 
                  program called Character, developed by the owners of Syn'x 
                  Relief, a company near Paris. 
                  In 1994, Softimage had negotiated with Syn'x about integrating 
                  parts of the Character program into Softimage 3D. But the deal 
                  fell through when Softimage demanded all rights to the code, 
                  according to a report in PC World Malta. In 1995, when Syn'x 
                  severed its relationship with Microsoft-Softimage, the company 
                  assured Syn'x that it had removed "some or all" of Character 
                  from its software. But Syn'x charges that Microsoft-Softimage 
                  removed only one part of the code, and retained eight other 
                  functions that Character's developers had registered with the 
                  French National Intellectual Property Institute. 
                  After Syn'x sent two letters to Softimage and Microsoft 
                  demanding the functions be removed, the company filed suit. In 
                  1998, Microsoft sold Softimage to Avid Technologies but 
                  remained responsible for the legal infringements of its former 
                  wholly owned subsidiary. 
                  Although Syn'x eventually fell into bankruptcy as a result of 
                  the case, the program's authors continued their fight. Last 
                  September the Commercial Court of Nanterre, France, awarded 
                  Syn'x the judgment for damages and interest. Microsoft has 
                  vowed to appeal the decision. 
                  Sales Pitch Rebuffed
                  Microsoft's brush with piracy in France came to light only 
                  this week. The case was overshadowed at the time by the focus 
                  on the September 11 terrorist attacks. But recently a Peruvian 
                  congressman raised the issue in regard to a Microsoft 
                  contract. 
                  Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Nuñez corresponded in April with 
                  Microsoft's general manager in Peru over proposed legislation 
                  there that would require any software used by the Peruvian 
                  government to be open source (or "free software," as it's 
                  referred to in Peru). Microsoft representatives protested the 
                  plan, writing the congressman that producing open-source 
                  software makes a software company vulnerable to piracy of its 
                  intellectual property by competitors. If Peru mandates the use 
                  of open-source software by government agencies, it "would 
                  establish discriminatory and noncompetitive practices in the 
                  contracting and purchasing" of software by public bodies, 
                  Microsoft stated. 
                  Nuñez was apparently not persuaded. He replied to Microsoft: 
                  "The inclusion of the intellectual property of others in works 
                  claimed as one's own is not a practice that has been noted in 
                  the [open-source] software community; whereas, unfortunately, 
                  it has been in the area of proprietary software." He cited 
                  specifically Microsoft's conviction by the Commercial Court of 
                  France, "for violation of intellectual property (piracy, to 
                  use the unfortunate term that your firm commonly uses in its 
                  publicity)." 
                  Meanwhile, Microsoft remains one of the most outspoken critics 
                  of piracy, aggressively pursuing violators and urging 
                  authorities to crack down on anyone who illegally copies its 
                  software. The company even went so far as to include an 
                  Activation Wizard in Windows XP, which prevents customers from 
                  loading a single copy of XP onto more than one PC. The company 
                  amended the policy after user outcry.