Novell today announced that it has been awarded a judgment against John Petro of Woodbridge, Virginia, for more than $126,000. Novell brought the suit against Petro for copyright and trademark infringement.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleged that Petro offered and distributed multiple unauthorized versions of Novell's NetWare® product on eBay's online auction site. The software Petro was offering was software that was licensed to a specific Novell customer and was not meant for distribution in the open market. Novell investigators discovered this product during their regular course of monitoring the Internet for infringing activities. Novell attempted several times to reconcile the matter with Petro before finally resorting to litigation, but Petro was unwilling to cooperate with Novell in resolving the issue.
"The majority of Novell products we see offered on these auction sites, or in any other secondary market for that matter, are in someway infringing upon Novell's intellectual property rights," stated Nathan Gage, anti-piracy manager for Novell. "We continue to encourage those seeking to acquire Novell products to do so through Novell's authorized distribution channel."
Novell's Anti-Piracy Group investigates complaints of software piracy in the marketplace and on the Internet, including the illegal use and distribution of Novell's copyrighted software and other materials, as well as the unauthorized use of Novell's trademarks. The Anti-Piracy Group is committed to ensuring that Novell customers receive legitimate, licensed software and that Novell partners receive the appropriate revenues for the distribution of Novell software. The Anti-Piracy Group has also established a reward program, offering a minimum of $250 or 10% of Novell's recoveries for submitting a genuine piracy lead to Novell. For more information on the reward program or to report instances of software piracy, please visit the anti-piracy web site at www.novell.com/piracy or email pirates@novell.com. The Anti-Piracy Group also maintains a toll-free hotline at 1-800 PIRATES (800-747-2837).
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