Russia is a country where you can find a number of cases regarding copyright infringement. Two years ago a school director in a village was accused of using pirated version of Windows OS on a number of machines. The school couldn’t afford the original expensive software after buying the computer systems with internet connection.
When the school bought the computer systems, they already had operating systems installed so they didn’t bother to check the authenticity of the software. Anyway the school was inspected and the director was accused of copyright infringement. After that he was pleaded guilty, though it was a conditional sentence.
The case ran for two years and today the court pleaded him not guilty following his successful appeal to a court of superior jurisdiction. Now the director has become a huge supporter of open-source (Linux and Open Office) and he is raising his voice loudly. He has succeeded in gathering a number of supporters including the government officials. Microsoft could have used the situation to turn the crowd to their side but they decided not to interrupt the case.
