I was watching the Russian news today at home and whilst I didn't understand every detail of the entire story I was able to understand that the Russian school director previously convicted of pirating Microsoft software (using it in the classrooms) was cleared by a higher court.  Further more, he was awarded damages and costs.  The end result being that the computers he deployed to the classes were donated and the software was installed on them by the previous owners.

Software piracy in Russia is a massive issue and been a point of serious negotiations between the Russian and US governments in the past.  I can only assume this will reignite those tensions.  Pirated sofware of all kinds is freely available in markets, Metro stations, even State run facilities have been known to harbour pirates.  Police often patrol these places and simply turn a blind eye to the dealings.  To be fair to the Russians they are making an effort and some progress.  Cases and rulings such as this won't help however.

Bink.nu had previously reported on this case.  Check out these links for history...

http://bink.nu/news/russian-judge-dismisses-any-penalty-in-piracy-case.aspx
http://bink.nu/news/russian-teacher-fined-in-microsoft-piracy-case.aspx

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