Microsoft Canada Co. welcomed a recent Federal Court of Canada decision in which Montreal-based software reseller Inter-Plus and its directing mind, Carmelo Cerrelli were found to have infringed Microsoft’s rights by selling, distributing, offering for sale and possessing counterfeit CD-ROMs as well as related documentation, including packaging, frontliners, backliners, licenses and Certificates of Authenticity when they know or should have known such materials were counterfeit.
p>In addition to awarding one of the highest statutory damage awards in Canada for copyright infringement, $500,000 in statutory damages, the court also awarded $200,000 in punitive damages, what is believed to be the highest such award in Canada in an intellectual property case.
The corporate defendants, 9038-3746 Quebec Inc. and 9014-5731 Quebec Inc. which carry on business under the name Inter-Plus, and their principal, Cerrelli, were found jointly and severally liable to Microsoft for the maximum amount of statutory damages available under the Copyright Act $20,000 per work, totalling $500,000 for the 25 copyrights in question.
The copyrights infringed included versions of Windows such as 98, 98 Second Edition and Windows NT Server, as well as versions of Office.
This is the first time that the maximum amount of statutory damages, $20,000 per work, has been awarded by a court in Canada. The court also found that Inter-Plus’s “sale of such counterfeit items at low prices prejudicially affected Microsoft’s relationship with its chain of legitimate suppliers”.
A permanent injunction was also granted against the corporate defendants, Cerrelli and Adam Cerrelli restraining them, their servants, employees or agents and any other person, corporation or entity acting under their instructions or control from selling, distributing or importing into Canada counterfeit copies of the programs in issue and from infringing Microsoft’s trade-marks.
The defendants are appealing the award of statutory damages, punitive damages and the finding of personal liability but are not appealing the court’s determination that they were dealing in counterfeit Microsoft products.
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