Software Firms Sue Distributor Over Copying
A group of U.S. software developers, including the three largest companies, has sued a Vancouver, Canada, mail-order house, claiming that the company is renting for $10 or $15 illegal copies of computer software programs worth hundreds of dollars.
The software makers, including Lotus Development, Microsoft and Ashton-Tate, obtained an order last Friday that allowed them to search the premises of Softsave Information Services, which operates the Softsave Preview Club. According to Ashton-Tate attorney Tom Chan, more than 300 illegal copies of programs were seized in the raid.
Other companies already participating in the suit are Activision, Broderbund, Infocom and Lifetree. The seven most likely will be joined by other software publishers whose products were being offered by Softsave, according to the Software Publishers Assn., a Washington-based trade group that is sponsoring the litigation.
The case, the first time that several leading software developers have banded together in litigation, signals redoubled industry efforts against piracy. Many software makers have begun removing copy-protection devices from programs but insist that this does not mean the programs may be legally copied for free.
There have been several cases against alleged pirates in Canada already, and Kenneth Wasch, executive director of the software trade group, said it is important to establish that software is covered by Canada’s copyright laws.
Robert MacFarlane, the Toronto-based attorney who was hired last Friday to represent Softsave, has also represented other defendants of software piracy cases. MacFarlane said there is substantial cause to doubt whether Canadian law now protects software, even though “current case law is clear” that it does.
Softsave catalogues list hundreds of different software programs, intricate codes that tell computers how to handle or manage information. Softsave customers, who pay $15 a year to be members, receive ordered programs through the mail and, at the end of the 21-day rental period, can opt to return the program or destroy the disks.
Wasch said this is tantamount to selling the software programs for a fraction of their value. For instance, the retail price of Ashton-Tate’s dBase III Plus (a database management system) is $695; until Friday’s court order halted the Softsave operation, customers could “rent” copies for as little as $10. Wasch said Softsave was sending out about 1,000 program disks a day--all of them, he claimed, illegal copies.
The companies said they will seek a permanent restraining order to shut down Softsave and are seeking an as yet unspecified monetary award.
Wasch said that while it is important to establish copyright protection for software in Canada, the trade group also believes that 90% of Softsave’s orders are from U.S. customers, including “some major American companies.”
