By Kang Hyun-kyung
A high court upheld a district court’s ruling that users of pirated software programs must pay the full price of the original editions even if they only used them for a single day.
The Seoul High Court ordered two medium-sized firms, which used illegal copies of computer programs, to fully compensate seven software makers, including Microsoft and Hancom Inc.
It ordered a firm identified by the initial “J” to pay 47 million won ($42,000) and another firm “Y” to pay 119 million won for the use of copies of the software.
The two companies used several copies of the software after installing them on several computers in their buildings in 2009.
The district court ordered them to pay fines for the violation of intellectual rights. The software makers sued the two companies separately, demanding they compensate for their illegal use of copyrighted editions. The district court ruled in favor of the program providers.
The companies took the case to the high court, asking that it allow them to pay in accordance with the period they used the illegal edition.