Microsoft IPR case: IHC sets aside lower court verdict
The global tech giant lost a case against a company it accused of pirating software
The global tech giant lost a case against a company it accused of pirating software. PHOTO: IHC WEBSITE
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday set aside the judgment of a lower court in an intellectual property rights case. Global tech giant Microsoft had filed a plea challenging the verdict.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui set aside the judgment and referred the case back to the trial court to review its decision in the copyright violation case against Sabro, a well-established electronic appliances company.
In 2013, Microsoft Corporation appealed against the verdict in the IHC against the judgment passed in the case.
In January 2010, Microsoft Pakistan Anti-Piracy Manager Salman Siddiqui had lodged a complaint against Sabro President Sohail Sadiq, Finance Vice President Muhammad Shahid, and Technologies VP Muhammad Khalid for illegally copying and reproducing material with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Rawalpindi Crime Circle.
Microsoft accused the organisation of using illegal and pirated copies of its software in violation of the Pakistan Copyright Ordinance and the International Copyright Order.
The suspects were accused of running their business without legitimate licenses and distributing illegal and pirated Microsoft software.
On November 25, 2013, Senior Civil Judge Abdul Ghafoor Kakar acquitted the suspects by giving them benefit of doubt, observing that there were inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
In the appeal, Microsoft’s lawyer Muhammad Majid Bashir said that the trial court judge did not appreciate the facts and evidence on the record, or that no defence witness denied the allegations levelled against the suspects.
The counsel maintained that the court did not appreciate the fact that articles including pirated software CDs were seized at the time of raid, and the same was substantiated before the court by the raiding party. He informed the IHC that the forensic examination of CDs and computers revealed that the software was not genuine or licensed.
FIA had confiscated two servers, 28 CPUs and 166 CDs during the raid. In the charge sheet, it was revealed that copies of Microsoft found on six computers at the company office were either stolen, hacked, or forged. It added that out of the 30 copies of Microsoft products on office systems, only two were original, while 30 CDs contained copies of different versions of Microsoft operating systems.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2016.
The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday set aside the judgment of a lower court in an intellectual property rights case. Global tech giant Microsoft had filed a plea challenging the verdict.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui set aside the judgment and referred the case back to the trial court to review its decision in the copyright violation case against Sabro, a well-established electronic appliances company.
In 2013, Microsoft Corporation appealed against the verdict in the IHC against the judgment passed in the case.
In January 2010, Microsoft Pakistan Anti-Piracy Manager Salman Siddiqui had lodged a complaint against Sabro President Sohail Sadiq, Finance Vice President Muhammad Shahid, and Technologies VP Muhammad Khalid for illegally copying and reproducing material with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Rawalpindi Crime Circle.
Microsoft accused the organisation of using illegal and pirated copies of its software in violation of the Pakistan Copyright Ordinance and the International Copyright Order.
The suspects were accused of running their business without legitimate licenses and distributing illegal and pirated Microsoft software.
On November 25, 2013, Senior Civil Judge Abdul Ghafoor Kakar acquitted the suspects by giving them benefit of doubt, observing that there were inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
In the appeal, Microsoft’s lawyer Muhammad Majid Bashir said that the trial court judge did not appreciate the facts and evidence on the record, or that no defence witness denied the allegations levelled against the suspects.
The counsel maintained that the court did not appreciate the fact that articles including pirated software CDs were seized at the time of raid, and the same was substantiated before the court by the raiding party. He informed the IHC that the forensic examination of CDs and computers revealed that the software was not genuine or licensed.
FIA had confiscated two servers, 28 CPUs and 166 CDs during the raid. In the charge sheet, it was revealed that copies of Microsoft found on six computers at the company office were either stolen, hacked, or forged. It added that out of the 30 copies of Microsoft products on office systems, only two were original, while 30 CDs contained copies of different versions of Microsoft operating systems.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2016.