Micro Focus accuses NSW Police of software piracy

UK software company Micro Focus is suing New South Wales (NSW) Police Force for unauthorised use of its ViewNow product, which ABC program 7:30 reports is used to access a critical database that contains information on most of the Australian state's citizens. Micro Focus' Australasian Managing Director Bruce Craig told the …

[Steven Roper]

State police aren't interested in copyright

since it's outside their jurisdiction.

Case in point: A few years ago the police attended the house of a friend of mine concerning a runaway child, and saw my friend torrenting the latest Simpsons episode. My friend thought he was busted for sure, but the cop actually asked him how to set up bittorrent so he could get the latest show for his kids!

My friend and the cop ended up having a friendly half-hour conversation on how to set up bittorrent and the best sites to go to to download TV shows, music, and other copyrighted content.

So much for copyright law in this country, when even the police aren't bothered about it (the Federal cops, though, are another matter!)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: State police aren't interested in copyright

"My friend thought he was busted for sure, but the cop actually asked him how to set up bittorrent so he could get the latest show for his kids!

My friend and the cop ended up having a friendly half-hour conversation on how to set up bittorrent and the best sites to go to to download TV shows, music, and other copyrighted content."

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Holy God. Just.... HOLY GOD!

AC, for obvious reasons... though the cop in question might like to use this icon, presuming he hasn't already pirated it :P

[Captain Obvious]

Did anyone at a first glance read

NSFW? But then again, maybe their software IS NSFW!!!!!

[James O'Brien]

Re: Did anyone at a first glance read

Your not alone. I was kinda hoping that it would be that. Havent had much in that catagory on El Reg for a while now.

[Anonymous Coward]

Typical Micro Focus.

First, they lay off all their developers, and then they sue their customers. I'm sure this is a great way to really get ahead in the market.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Typical Micro Focus.

They simply want to be paid for their product which is the usual way of doing business and as NSW Police have pirated their software they can hardly be called customers now can they?

[adam payne]

Re: Typical Micro Focus.

Said developers may still have been employed if NSW Police had paid for the licensing.

NSW Police should have read the license agreement.

[Anonymous Coward]

Compromise

I bet there's no way that NSW police can come up with a plausible response that avoids shit falling on higher-ups (at least until all the techies involved have left and are available for blame), so perhaps it's better to come to a 'no fault' compromise whereby NSW police agree to having used 'X' copies and pay up to settle it.

And perhaps MicroFocus should institute a simple scheme to manage the licenses at the server. There's no point in trusting the customer, it seems.

[Anonymous Coward]

If the police are using unlicenced software to view evidence etc

it would be ironic if this meant it couldn't be present in local cases.

Kim Dotcom for example, which I beleive is currently making its way through the NZ legal system.

They might even have to surrender their servers while they get searched for any other evidence of potential infringement.

Sauce for the goose and all that.

[Tim99]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

A prima facie case under the Federal Copyright Amendment Act 2006?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If the police are using unlicenced software to view evidence etc

Er...NSW is in Australia, Kim Dot Com is in New Zealand (Auckland). Do the math.

[Mark 65]

Investigations

"Craig says that means Micro Focus will pursue the claim in the courts, as he feels that the Police Force is not particularly interested in investigating itself."

Funny, they're happy to investigate themselves when it comes to any other form of misconduct or corrupt practices before signing off as "appropriate use of force etc"

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing new here.

NSW Police have run afoul of Microsoft in the past regarding XP Volume License Key shenanigans in the past, too, among other things.

[Anonymous Coward]

First a loaf of bread...

See title.

[TimChuma]

Now there's a name I've not heard in a long, long time...

When I learnt COBOL in the mid-nineties to be exact - training for big-enterprise Y2K work and industrial strength RDBMS (a lot easier to do in COBOL than C at the time.)