Out-Law News 1 min. read

Australian software pirate to do community service


An Australian computer technician has agreed to serve 100 hours of community service and pay A$31,500 to the Business Software Association of Australia (BSAA) for his involvement in a software piracy business.

Mr Wojciech Czarnocki, formerly trading with the conspicuous title of the Pirated Software Group, has agreed to volunteer 100 hours of his time to provide computer-related work to a charitable organisation in New South Wales, in addition to payment of $31,500 to the BSAA.

"This settlement is a warning to sellers of unlicensed software who are stealing the property of companies that have invested thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars into creating a quality product," said Jim Macnamara, Chairman of the BSAA. "It is a guarantee to pirates that the BSAA will hunt them down, and Australian law carries large penalties for trading in unlicensed software."

The BSAA initiated proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Czarnocki, following reports that the Pirated Software Group had produced and advertised a 900-page catalogue of illegal computer programs.

A national search by the Business Software Association of Australia (BSAA) including a "Wanted" poster featuring Czarnocki's photograph and offer of a A$5,000 reward, triggered a story on TV current affairs programme which led to many calls identifying Czarnocki to the BSAA hotline. Czarnocki subsequently gave himself up to the BSAA.

Mr. Macnamara said that Czarnocki could not be let to get away with the blatant software piracy committed. "However, as he came forward voluntarily, we will not proceed with further legal action. Instead, Mr Czarnocki will pay legal costs and do community service."

The Federal Court also made orders against Mr Czarnocki, requiring him not to deal in products which infringe the rights of BSAA members Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft.

"Software piracy is sometimes seen as a 'victimless crime', but recent research shows that the problem is costing Australia jobs and possibly its place as a 'smart country' in the Information Age," said Mr Macnamara.

A 1998 PriceWaterhouseCoopers report examined the flow-on effects of software piracy and estimated that even reducing Australia's piracy rate of 33 per cent to the US rate of 27 per cent would generate an additional A$1.2 billion in annual sales and a further 7,332 jobs within Australia by 2001.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.