FBI & SPA Raid Rusty and Edie's

   Rusty and Edie's, a major Ohio a computer bulletin board located in
Boardman, Ohio, which has allegedly been illegally distributing
copyrighted software, was raided by FBI agents on Saturday January 30,
1993.

   Seizing computers, hard drives, and communications equipment, as
well as financial and subscriber records the FBI raid was the result
of a joint investigation with the Software Publisher's Association.

   During the investigation the FBI and the SPA were able to download
from Rusty and Edie's numerous copyrighted business and entertainment
programs.

   The investigation was the result of complaints from SPA members that
copyrighted software was being made available to the public illegally on
Rusty & Edie's BBS.

   A press release from SPA reads, in part:

  " Rusty & Edie's bulletin board was one of the largest private bulletin
boards in the country.  It had 124 nodes available to callers and over
14,000 subscribers throughout the United States and several foreign
countries.  To date, the board has logged in excess of 3.4 million
phone calls, with new calls coming in at the rate of over 4,000 per day.
It was established in 1987 and had expanded to include over 19 gigabytes
of storage, housing over 100,000 files available to subscribers for
downloading. It had paid subscribers throughout the United States and
several foreign countries, including Canada, Luxembourg, France, Germany,
Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom."

   The Software Publisher's Association created the Copyright Protection
Fund in 1985 for the purpose of educating personal computer users about
copyright law and to execute a legal campaign to fight software piracy.

   The Fund, which is currently supported by nineteen major software
companies, is an industry wide effort to fight software piracy.

   Calling software piracy a very serious problem in the US, the SPA
estimates that 1.4 billion dollars was lost to the industry in 1991
in the United States alone.

   Under current federal law it is illegal for anyone to copy a piece
of software for any reason other than as a backup, without the
permission of the copyright holder. Civil penalties can run as high
as $100,000 for each infringement.

   In the fall of 1992 commercial piracy of copyrighted software became
a felony under Public Law 102-561. Anyone convicted of willfully making
ten or more unauthorized copies of software with a retail value of $2500
or more within a 180 day period may face up to five years in prison. Fines
of up to $250,000 may be levied. Ten year prison terms are possible for
repeat offenders.

   Felony software piracy includes the illegal duplication and sale of
copyrighted software in a form designed to make it appear legitimate,
or the loading into hard drives of unauthorized copies of software, by
hardware dealers as incentives to buy their products. Uploading of
copyrighted software by modem, to users, from electronic bulletin boards
is also a felony under the new law.

   The SPA, based in Washington maintains a toll free hot line
(1 800 388 7478) to report software piracy. Following a telephone report
the SPA conducts a full investigation before taking further action, which
may be as minor as a cease and desist letter or, depending on the extent
of the infringement, may involve litigation.

   To date the SPA has filed more than 150 lawsuits against various
organizations all of which have been settled out of court or are still
pending. A list of the organizations targeted contains everything from
architects to clothing retailers, to educational institutions. The first
raid on an electronic billboard took place in June 1992, when agents
raided Davy Jones' Locker in Milford, Mass.

   The SPA offers several programs of public information such as the
now familiar " Don't Copy that Floppy" program. The association also
offers a free self audit software program to help individuals and
organizations maintain compliance with the law.

                                      Robert Higgins
                                     Hillsboro, Ohio