Add to the list of lawsuits against the software giant a local school, Southeastern College from Pasay City.
The School is represented by Estelito Mendoza. The suit is a P100 million copyright infringement case. It is alleged that Microsoft illegally copied and distributed a copyrighted teacher training manual developed by the school. (www.inquirer.net)
Wouldn't I be annoyed if I was in Microsoft's shoes! I am not about to take Microsoft's side in this case, but I would like to point out that this software giant is a victim to a plethora of intellectual property (IP) violations in our great Republic. If they were to be found liable to pay P100 million, I would find it pleasantly ironic. I think they make too much money off poor countries like ours. But there may be another side to it.
Hidden Agenda?
A suit like this may be just what Microsoft needs in pursuit of its own agenda. Though it be the defendant, they may stand to gain. For while we have advanced laws on IP, as a nation we seem to still be in the process of deciding how much we truly value this kind of legislation. If, by this suit, Microsoft is held to pay a high price for their IP violation. Would they not use such a decision as ammunition to fight their war against our own local software/tech industries. Would it not give precedent to make IP violaters pay a high price?
For the meantime, I have mixed emotions as regards our IP laws and suits of this nature. My concerns include how it is not clear whether these will help us advance in technology creation or if it will suck us further into dependence. In addition I wonder how we will tell our wage earners that they have to pay months of wages for one operating system? How do we tell Filipinos that they must pay a week's worth of groceries for one DVD? Who are we really protecting?
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