First person EVER convicted of piracy in SA

F

fergus

Expert Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2004
Messages
1,514
Reaction score
5
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
Dominic, I'd like your comments on this if you have any. I find it hard to believe this is the first (and therefore the only) conviction of piracy in SA since piracy apparently costs the economy (or at least M$) millions each year? :confused:

SA software pirate fined
http://capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=55&fArticleId=2978922

November 3, 2005

By Mzolisi Witbooi

A Ukrainian sailor convicted of pirating computer programs is the first person to be convicted of software piracy in South Africa.

Andrei Goncharko, 48, who was fined R5 000 and given six months' imprisonment suspended for five years, may apply for leave to appeal against his sentence in the Cape Town Regional Court tomorrow.

Passing judgment yesterday, magistrate Jan van Zyl said he was indebted to State prosecutor Conrad Heydenrych and defence advocate Christo Bischoff for the manner in which they had handled the "unprecedented" copyright infringement criminal case.

Goncharko, who had pleaded not guilty to a charge of contravening the Copyright Act, was arrested in 2001 after making copies of Microsoft software in his Sea Point flat. Two witnesses testified that he charged them between R150 and R200 for programs.

Goncharko had argued that he knew nothing about the Copyright Act and had merely charged clients for the time, the CD and internet services.
 
They only started convicting now??? Also check out the sentence 6 months? It almost sounds worth it (joking)
 
I can believe it's the first convicted person in SA - most of them get off as they merely say their CD's are for "backups" even though they don't check if the owner(s) have the original CD.
 
Copying programs and selling them? That's as illegal as much as it is stupid.
 
sheesh - not really my area but would have thought we would have been down this road already....real struggle is not in catching peeps but in convicting them as it is a technical crime requiring technical understanding (to a degree)

i would imagine that BSA has brokered quite a few out of court settlements for copyright infringers

also interesting that they used the copyright act - to my mind would have got better results under the ECT Act which has harsher penalties available
 
o/t fergus - a little pm inbox maintenance please :cool:

thinking....there was a matter where a guy was sentenced by the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court in 2004 - also piracy...think his name was Mamoch
 
Not the first, maybe the fisrt of its kind

Hi all,

See http://www.bsa.org/southafrica/press/News-Archive.cfm.

And on 13 December 2004: For the first time in SA legal history a piracy offender has been sent to jail, says a report in The Mercury. The Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court sentenced Craig Marnoch to the maximum term of three years yesterday after finding him guilty of selling counterfeit products, copyright infringement, theft and fraud. Marnoch, a former policeman, is believed to have scammed hundreds of South Africans into purchasing pirated Microsoft software. He was also linked to selling pirate DVDs and stealing money from people who purchased cellphones from him which were never delivered. In handing down the sentence, Judge David Makoba said he believed the sentence to be a just one. The ruling was also the first time a counterfeit offender had received the maximum sentence without it being suspended, said Tonia Papanikolaou, the attorney for Microsoft South Africa. ‘This is ground-breaking in the legal field because software piracy is an escalating problem. It is good to see the courts take it so seriously.’

Generally software pirates are proceduted in terms of the Counterfeit Goods Act. This might be the first software piracy conviction ito the Copyright Act.

Also see: http://www.buys.co.za/gbDownloads.asp?field=file&RID=175

Regards,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X