Techie held for alleged copyright violation

PUNE: The cyber crime cell of the city police on Saturday arrested software engineer Samir Inamdar on charges of violation of copyright laws allegedly leading to a loss of Rs 100 cr to a city-based e-learning firm. Inamdar was on Sunday remanded to police custody till December 6.
According to a press release by the police, Inamdar had been dismissed from Brainvisa in 2006 and formed his own e-learning company subsequently.However, he illegally retained possession of Brainvisa's product demonstrations and their source codes, and later tried to pass these off as his company's products to potential clients.
Inamdar's lawyer and friend refuted the charges, saying that he was "innocent" and was "being framed".
According to a press release issued by Brainvisa, Inamdar was employed in key positions in Brainvisa Technologies Pvt Ltd, Pune and Brainvisa Inc, US. During his stint in the company, he had access to its products, demonstrations, source codes, proprietary data and confidential information. After being dismissed from service, he illegally copied this data and information.
The press release further said that Inamdar then started his own e-learning company, Enthuse Technologies Pvt Ltd. The Brainvisa management recently learnt that Inamdar and his associates had uploaded product demonstrations originally developed by them, along with their source code, on Enthuse's official website. Inamdar was allegedly soliciting clients by passing off the products as Enthuse's own, the press release stated.
Brainvisa expects to potentially suffer business losses to the tune of US $ 9.5 million annually as a result, the release added. The company has pegged the value of the intellectual property and confidential information allegedly in Inamdar's possession at US $ 500,000.
Milind Pawar, who represented Inamdar in court, stated that all charges against him were false. "He has been framed in the case. There was no need to remand him to police custody. We are ready to support the police investigation."
A friend of Inamdar echoed the same sentiment. "Both companies are working for a foreign-based client. Inamdar has been framed in the case due to the business rivalry," he said on the condition of anonymity.
A case has been lodged against Inamdar and his associates with the cyber crime cell, Pune, and an FIR registered under section 66 of the Information Technology Act 2000 (hacking and offence of diminishing value of information residing in a computer), section 63 of the Copyright Act 1957 (infringement of copyright), section 405 of Indian Penal Code (criminal breach of trust), and section 420 of the IPC (cheating).
According to Sheshrao Suryavanshi, senior inspector, Chatushrungi police station, a complaint was lodged on Saturday and investigations into the hacking and other charges will be conducted with the help of the cyber crime cell.