
A Russian headmaster said on Monday a court has <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/05/07/russia.microsoft.reut/index.html">fined him half his monthly wage</A> for using pirated copies of Microsoft software at his school in a case President Vladimir Putin has called "utter nonsense."
Prosecutors said Alexander Ponosov had violated Microsoft's property rights by allowing pupils to use 12 computers with unlicensed copies of Microsoft Windows and Office software.
Ponosov, a headmaster in a remote school in the Perm region of the Ural mountains, said he did not know the computers had fake licenses when they were delivered by a sub-contractor.