On March 6, 2014, the criminal section of the District Court of Douala-Bonanjo, Cameroon’s commercial capital, found MOZALE SARL and its managing director guilty of software copyright infringement for the illegal use of Sage software.

What the court ordered

  • Damages of CFAF 2,031,000 to Sage.
  • A criminal fine of CFAF 500,000, plus court costs of CFAF 102,225.
  • A warrant of commitment for 18 months’ imprisonment, to be enforced if the amounts were not paid within the legal deadline.

One of three convictions

Sage, a leading publisher of accounting and business management software in Francophone Africa, announced the ruling in August 2014 together with two other first-instance wins against companies in the Maghreb and Francophone Africa. Across the three cases, the courts imposed damages and fines totaling several thousand euros, as well as prison sentences.

The convictions followed awareness campaigns that Sage ran with government institutions and other international software publishers. Sage used the announcement to warn businesses about the risks of pirated software on computers, mobile devices and in the cloud, and to recommend software asset management programs.

The scale of the problem

Sage cited figures from BSA | The Software Alliance: in 2013, an estimated 82% of software in Cameroon was unlicensed, compared with 85% in Algeria, 80% in Côte d’Ivoire and 59% across the Middle East and Africa. According to the same study, the regional rate had not fallen since 2009.

Why it matters

  • Managers are personally exposed. The managing director was convicted, not just the company, and faced prison if the company did not pay.
  • Criminal courts take it seriously. Even where piracy rates are among the highest in the world, courts in Francophone Africa convict for unlicensed business software.
  • Small amounts, lasting consequences. The damages were modest, but a criminal record for a company director is not.

Sources: ITWeb Africa, August 4, 2014; Sage press release via APO, August 4, 2014; Abidjan.net / AIP, August 4, 2014.

Header photo: Minette Lontsie, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped and toned).