Despite a plea from Gorbachev

Feb 6, 2007 09:14 GMT  ·  By

At the beginning of February, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates smiled as Romanian President Traian Basescu was praising the "educational" role that software piracy had for Romania. Yesterday, February 5, Microsoft has chosen not to intervene on behalf of Aleksandr Ponosov, a Russian teacher in a small village in the Ural Mountains, accused of software piracy and sentenced to jail in a Siberian prison.

Ex Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev, made a public plea addressing Bill Gates to intervene on behalf of the accused teacher on the basis that Ponosov had acquired in good faith computers preloaded with pirated software.

"We have great respect for the work of Microsoft's programmers, and are in no way casting doubt on the principle of punishment for intellectual property violations. However, in this case we ask you to show mercy and withdraw your complaint against Alexander Ponosov," argued Gorbachev.

"Mr. Ponosov's case is a criminal case and as such was initiated and investigated by the public prosecutor's office in Russia. Microsoft has no intention of making a civil claim against Mr. Ponosov. We are confident that the Russian courts will make a fair decision in Mr. Ponosov's case after comprehensive analysis of all related details," stated a Microsoft representative.

The current Russian President, Vladimir Putin also addressed the matter, condemning the prosecution. Putin said that it was ridiculous to sentence to prison a man that bought a bootlegged product in good faith.

In this context, Ponosov might have a chance to avoid doing time in a Siberian prison camp, but Microsoft has refused any intervention in the proceedings of the case with the exception of not making a civil claim against the teacher.