While Microsoft is -of course- against piracy it seems that the big software giant itself also always doesn't know what to pay to who.
A French division of Microsoft has to pay a fine of about $422,000 for illegal use of another company's source code in an animation program called Softimage.
The issue started in 1995 when Microsoft France purchased Softimage, a Canadian company that developed the 3D CGI animation program Softimage 3D. The acquired company was accused of illegally lifting source code from a proprietary program called Character, developed by the owners of Syn'x Relief, a company near Paris. |
In 1994, Softimage had negotiated with Syn'x about integrating parts of the Character program into Softimage 3D. But the deal fell through when Softimage demanded all rights to the code, according to a report in PC World Malta. In 1995, when Syn'x severed its relationship with Microsoft-Softimage, the company assured Syn'x that it had removed "some or all" of Character from its software. But Syn'x charges that Microsoft-Softimage removed only one part of the code, and retained eight other functions that Character's developers had registered with the French National Intellectual Property Institute.
After Syn'x sent two letters to Softimage and Microsoft demanding the functions be removed, the company filed suit. In 1998, Microsoft sold Softimage to Avid Technologies but remained responsible for the legal infringements of its former wholly owned subsidiary.
Although Syn'x eventually fell into bankruptcy as a result of the case, the program's authors continued their fight. Last September the Commercial Court of Nanterre, France, awarded Syn'x the judgment for damages and interest. Microsoft has vowed to appeal the decision.
Well, everyone can make mistakes, it's just a little ironic that just Microsoft makes mistakes like this Read the entire article here.
Source: PCWorld.com
