Australian ad agency facing piracy suit
Mojo Partners is being sued by the Business Software Association of Australia members for alleged copyright infringement in relation to Adobe and Microsoft software.
Legal proceedings were filed by Microsoft and Adobe against Mojo and associated companies on October 16 and the case will be heard in the Federal Court in Sydney on February 14 next year.
The BSAA claims relate to Mojo alleged use of illegal software from Microsoft and Adobe including Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Acrobat.
Chairman of the BSAA, Jim Macnamara said the BSAA's members were seeking substantial damages for alleged infringements of the Copyright Act 1968 by Mojo Partners, as well as injunctions restraining the company from any unauthorized copying of programs in the future.
The case came before Justice Beaumont of the Federal Court in Sydney for the first time yesterday (28 November 2001), at which time the judge made directions for the filing of a defence by the respondents.
The BSAA and its member companies have scored several recent successes in their clamp down on software piracy including cases against Logic World Pty Ltd, which had damages of A$210,000 (US$109,000) awarded against it in July; Flanergan, a leading Canberra printing firm which settled out of court for A$40,000 in October; Momentum Animation Studios Pty Ltd, a small computer animation studio which settled for A$10,000 in November; and Webology Australia, a Web designer, which settled for A$15,000 earlier this year.