Microsoft sued for copyright violation in Philippines

               
MANILA, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- A Philippine college on Monday accused global software giant Microsoft Corp. of allegedly reproducing the school's copyrighted materials without consent.

According to the online edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Southeastern College (SEC) filed the case at a regional court in Metro Manila against the Seattle-based group and its local subsidiary, Microsoft Philippines, for copying and distributing the college's 370-paged manual on how to operate Microsoft Office XP system.

The manual was copyrighted in 2005 by SEC for the exclusive use of teachers and students. Microsoft Philippines in 2004 reportedly purchased licenses to print 10, 000 copies of SEC manual. SEC claimed that Microsoft copied the manual contents and made them into CDs for distribution.

"SEC has never given Microsoft or any other person authority to reproduce and/or distribute (Innovate) in CDs," said Atty. Estelito Mendoza, legal counsel for SEC, adding that SEC only consented to the printing of book copies while the making of CDs as well as its distribution "grossly violates Southeastern College's economic rights to its intellectual property."

About 700 CD copies have allegedly been distributed by Microsoft to local high school teachers in two separate corporate events in 2006, the report said.

The report quoted Atty. Mendoza as saying that the act as a "bare-face" case of copyright infringement. "Ironically, Microsoft has been at the forefront of attempting to curb the illegal distribution of its own copyrighted software in the Philippines," it said.

A public relations official with Microsoft Philippines told the paper that they are still consulting lawyers regarding its public statement about the lawsuit and that they would issue a reply Monday.