MACROMEDIA INC. VS. IVANOPULO

Source:
7am News FreeWire
Macromedia Seeks Amicable Settlement With Cracker
Updated 7:15am PDT, 9 March 1999
By Bruce Simpson

Macromedia are still keen to pursue an amicable resolution to the dispute that has seen them go head-to-head with a Russian cracker.

Steve Wozniak (no relation to "the" Steve Wozniak), Macromedia's anti-piracy manager told 7am News that they would prefer to resolve the issue without resorting to legal action but that if such a resolution was not forthcoming then they certainly reserve the right to pursue whatever remedies are available to them under the law.

Previous Report: A Russian cracker calling himself "Ivanopulo" has effectively picked a fight with US software company Macromedia by posting crack-codes for many of the company's software titles to his web site.

According to Ivanopulo, Macromedia's anti-piracy manager Steve Wozniak has responded to this by first asking him to take down his site and then, when this was refused, by threatening to "make an example" of him.

It is Ivanopulo's belief that within Russia he is allowed by Russian law to reverse engineer software (which he has done) and that the software he has created as a result of that reverse engineering (being the cracks for Macromedia software) is not in itself copyright to Macromedia.

In an email to Wozniak, Ivanopulo boldly states "please, stop threatening me in your letters. You achieve nothing doing that. Because if the law will be on my sid (and it IS on my side) and you'll still be persevering with your threatening and insulting letters (like calling me a thief etc.), I'll take your company into court and you'll have to pay me for it." Naturally Macromedia take an opposing position and view Ivanopulo's activities as piracy... more...

Introduction

Legal rules

Legal humanism or antisocial behavior

A harmful program or a disassembled model

A right or a penalty