Microsoft judgment delayed for third time

Microsoft judgment delayed for third time

JAKARTA (JP): Despite the fact that piracy is rampant here,
any hope of obtaining legal redress will require patience,
persistence and plenty of time.

For the third time in a row, the Central Jakarta District
Court failed on Thursday to deliver a judgment in a piracy case
involving Microsoft Inc. and four local computer traders.

Presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria opened the hearing at 3:20
p.m., more than four hours late, only to adjourn it for another
two weeks.

Amiruddin said the judges had yet to complete the drafting of
the judgment as they wanted to make it "as watertight as
possible".

He said that they had to carefully study the case before
delivering judgment in court.

"It's the first such case here. We have to be very careful
because the judgment will become a precedent for similar cases in
the future," he told The Jakarta Post later.

Microsoft sued five local computer companies for allegedly
installing pirated Windows 98, Windows 97 and Microsoft Office
2000 software in computers and then selling them to public.

PT Panca Putra Komputindo, HJ Computer, HM Computer and Altec
Computer, which are all based in the Mangga Dua shopping mall, a
haven for cheap, pirated computer software, was sued in the
Central Jakarta District Court, while PT Kusumo Megah Jaya Sakti,
which is also based in Mangga Dua, was sued in the West Jakarta
District Court.

Microsoft is demanding that each company pay between US$1
million and $5 million in damages, issue a public apology in 10
local newspapers, and stop installing and selling its pirated
software.

On Monday, Presiding Judge M. Saleh of the West Jakarta
District Court had also failed for the third time to deliver a
judgment.

Annoying

Lawyers from both sides voiced their disappointment on
Thursday as they had wasted hours waiting for the court to
convene.

"Why didn't they tell us this before? It's the third time the
session has been postponed. This is annoying," Hermawi Taslim, a
lawyer for the traders, told reporters.

Microsoft lawyer Ahmad Djosan said he could do nothing as the
convening of the court was the prerogative of the judges, not the
lawyers.

"It has become an Indonesian legal tradition. We have to
follow the rules come what may," he said.

In reality, unclear judicial procedures are common here.

The same court on Tuesday also failed for the second time to
hand down a judgment in a class action suit filed against the
state-owned oil company Pertamina over what the plaintiffs claim
was an "arbitrary" decision to increase the price of liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) by 40 percent.

Judge Ali A. Haky explained that he had not yet reached a
decision as he was still recovering from an operation, and
adjourned the session for three weeks.

"I'm still receiving medical treatment after having eye
surgery last week," Ali said, when he opened the session at about
1:30 p.m.

Johnson Panjaitan, one of the lawyers for the LPG consumers,
who had been waiting at the courthouse for a judgment for over
three hours, regretted Ali's decision as two weeks ago the court
had also postponed giving a judgment.

Johnson said that before opening the session, Ali had said he
would deliver the judgment in his chambers, but the lawyer
rejected Ali's suggestion on the grounds that as the case
involved the public domain, the judgment should therefore be
delivered in open court.

"I don't know his real reason (for adjourning the session). If
he is really sick, he should have told us hours before," he said.

The price of LPG increased from Rp 1,500 to Rp 2,100 per
kilogram in November last year. (04)