BSA raids SM Technologies for copyright infringement

Bangalore, May 2 (UNI) The Business Software Alliance (BSA), the voice of the world's IT software and hardware industry, has reiterated its stance on piracy as a crime with its recent civil enforcement action, carried out against SM Technologies, a Hyderabad-based company and its owner Mr Suresh Babu Mandava.

BSA carried out the raid on SM Technologies for the second time in three years and seized allegedly pirated software worth about Rs two crore, BSA said in a release here.

The raids led to the recovery of 1,843 CDs, allegedly containing pirated software of Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk and Symanatec under various titles, versions and copies.

In September 2004, a criminal case was filed by BSA against the same company and police raided the premises of SM Technologies at three locations in Hyderabad. The criminal case is still pending against Mr Mandava in Hyderabad District Court.

The second enforcement action against the defendant underlined the commitment by BSA to stamp out software piracy, the release said.

M/s SM Technologies was allegedly engaged in the illegal distribution of pirated products of BSA members, Microsoft and Adobe in a repeated fashion, a total disregard to the copyright law and the criminal case pending against it. The alleged 'modus-operandi' for M/s SM Technologies was to create 'compilation pirated CDs' with a range of products from Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft, Symantec and various other software companies.

The defendant has been selling the pirated software through multiple channels such as, the internet resellers and directly to end users. The list of seizure from S M Technologies included a 'Sales Brochure', which appeared to encompass detailed information on the software availability and its pricing.

On April 4, the Delhi High Court granted an ex-parte interim injunction, restraining the M/s SM Technologies from copying/reproducing, selling pirated/unlicenced version of the Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk and Symantec Software.

The court also appointed two independent court commissioners to search the two premises of the firm in Hyderabad and seize CDS and other storage/replicating media which were found to contain pirated software of Microsoft and Adobe.

Following the orders of the High Court and with the assistance of the local police, the court commissioners carried out the raids on April 11.

UNI