Software Piracy: Court Restrains Consulting Firm

This Day (Lagos)

February 20, 2003
Posted to the web February 20, 2003

Tayo Ajakaye
Lagos

The Federal High Court in Lagos has barred Thoroughbreed Software Consulting from making copies, selling or offering for sale or retaining for use, the computer programme source code software belonging to Wadof Software Consulting, a leading software development firm in the country. The software was alleged to have been wrongfully copied from the plaintiff's system.

The court also restrained other defendants in the suits, including HNB Trustees, a subsidiary of Habib Nigeria Bank Limited, or any other organization, person or group of persons from using the software illegally pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The software, Regstar, a leading share registration management application in the country, was developed in 1998 by Wadof. It manages share purchase and other tasks involved in share registration. The restriction was contained in an order granted by Justice A. A. B Gumel of the Federal High Court.

He said such act as perpetrated by Thoroughbreed constituted an infringement of Wadof's copyright on the product. The order also directed the defendants to permit Wadof's representatives, in company of security agents, "to enter into their premises at any reasonable time by day or night for the purpose of searching for seizing and removing computer programmes, source code, framework and copies resembling, imitating or infringing the plaintiff's copyright."

It would be recalled that a combined team of security agents and the legal representatives of the plaintiff carried out a raid on HNB Trustees recently for alleged software piracy. The raid led to the seizure of the company's server, which is operated on the pirated software.

The software was said to have been pirated by top officials of Thoroughbreed Software Consulting Limited and a former staff of Wadof, and sold to HNB Trustees.
IT professionals in Lagos believe that the legal action against this act by the plaintiff would serve as deterrent to other software pirates in the country. According to them, it would also open the eyes of the public to the kind of software they procure for their operations. One analyst specifically said that the bold step taken by Wadof would introduce some measures of sanity into the marketing of software in the country.
Further hearing in the case has been adjourned till February 21.