Novell spooks bust online pirate

Novell is taking legal action in the US courts against a man who allegedly used online auction house eBay to sell $1.1 million worth of pirated software. The suit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Kansas, alleges that Joseph C. Mandala of Wichita, Kansas tried to sell Novell's NetWare software via eBay. Novell maintains this is a clear breach of its copyright and trademark. Snoops at Novell -- who regularly trawl through online auction houses in search of hooky gear -- managed to buy several unauthorised NetWare diskettes through eBay as well as directly from Mandala. The value of the illegal Novell software being offered is believed to be more than $1.1 million. "Novell will continue to monitor online auction sites and will take aggressive action to stop the unauthorised distribution of Novell products on such auction sites," said David Bradford, senior VP and general counsel for Novell. "We will not allow our sales channel to be undermined by this type of illicit activity," he said. Earlier this year Novell secured a conviction against a Belgian Internet Service Provider for copyright infringement after subscribers to a bulletin board were found to be using the service to upload pirate copies of Novell software. ® See also: Software pirates scuppered by Y2K Biggest ever haul of bogus software uncovered Microsoft piracy buster trashes software and reputation Computer piracy is sinful, says Israeli court