Mumbai: In their efforts to create an effective deterrence in companies and organization using pirated or unlicensed software, Delhi High Court has recently fined a company Rs 10 lakh as compensatory and punitive damages to the software copyright holders for using pirated software for commercial purposes without adequate genuine licenses. The plaintiffs in this case were Adobe and Microsoft. This was the first judgment taken on damages against a corporate end-user company.

The court cited a famous judgment of Time Incorporated vs Lokesh Srivastava, 2005 (30) PTC 3 (Del).

In that case, the court had concluded, “This court has no hesitation in saying that the time has come when the courts dealing with actions for infringement of trademark, copyrights, patents, etc should not only grant compensatory damages but award punitive damages also with a view to discourage and dishearten law breakers who indulge in violations with impunity out of lust for money so that they realize that in case they are caught, they would be liable not only to reimburse the aggrieved party but would be liable to pay punitive damages also, which may spell financial disaster for them.”

Keshav S Dhakad, Chairman, BSA India Committee said that the Business Software Alliance (BSA) welcomed the decision taken by the Delhi High Court. “The court has sent a strong message through the imposition of this kind that piracy and counterfeiting of software not only harms the copyright owner, it also affects the national economy as a whole and is a deterrent to indigenous product innovation and economic growth,” he added.

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