In a somewhat rare occurrence, a Nigerian national residing in Botswana has been charged P20 000 for infringement of software copyright laws otherwise known as software piracy.
Chikezie Chukwadi Nnochirionye, owner of a computer company called Apple Box PTY LTD, operating from the Main Mall, Gaborone, was recently found guilty of installing fake licenses of Microsoft operating systems.
It is said that in Botswana when one buys a computer it normally comes with an original version of whichever operating system they prefer. Microsoft’s Windows operating systems are arguably the most common in Botswana.
Copying the original version to use without the company’s permission on another computer is illegal according to copyright laws.
Information attained from Microsoft website, many countries are against software piracy but the degree of enforcement varies from place to place.
On the 28th of July this year, Magistrate Abigail Masawi sentenced Apple Box to pay P10 000, failure to pay would have resulted in the office equipment being sold while Nnochirionye, in his personal capacity, was charged P10 000; in default he would serve two years imprisonment.
The Sunday Standard is reliably informed that Nnochirionye, who recently married a Motswana, was caught by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) after he blindly fell into a trap set by the Channel Compliance and Enforcement Co-ordinator for Microsoft East and Southern Africa, Michael Berenju.
Berenju is said to have heard of the Nigerian’s shady dealings and had thus decided to set him up by acting like a regular customer. According to a reliable informant, an unsuspecting Nnochirionye then sold a computer to Berenju at the price of P2500 and installed the fake version of a Windows operating system.
Shortly afterwards Beneju was apprehended and a number of fake Windows copies, amongst them Windows 1997-2003,Windows 2000,Windows XP,Office,Vista, were found in his possession and confisticated.The Magistrate, upon finding him guilty, ordered that the confisticated items be destroyed.
The computer bought by Beneju has since been returned to the owner after it was formatted.
At the time of going to print, Bereju was not available for comment.
