Federal Judge Orders County Imaging Software Destroyed
Special Report from News For County Officials
U.S. District Judge Victoria A. Roberts has ordered
the destruction of imaging and indexing programs in
fourteen Texas counties. Hundreds of counties
in Texas and nationwide may unknowingly be using
components of pirated software.
We hope the
following special report will help you determine if your
contractor may have installed pirated programs on
your county systems and what you can do to protect
your records.
Federal Judge Orders County Imaging Software Destroyed
In a default judgment by the U.S. District Court
Eastern Division in Michigan, the court found that
Akhilesh Argawal and Aditya International of India
infringed on a copyright held by Digital Filing Systems
of Novi, Michigan. The court awarded the default
judgment citing copyright infringement; awarded
Digital the right to issue cease and desist orders to
anyone using DigiCourt, DigiFile, DigiRecord, or any
similar software. Fourteen counties in Texas have
already received cease and desist orders from Digital
Filing Systems, LLC.
Most individuals would be surprised to learn it is not
simply the software that is at risk, but the images
and indexes created by the pirated program, as
well. Software companies often routinely claim
ownership and control over the images that result
from the use of their programs. This claim is made
under the same laws that provide photographers with
ownership rights over negatives. Unless the software
contract specifically gives ownership rights to the
software user, the rights to the images may remain
with the software developer.
The number of affected counties in Texas and
nationwide is likely to grow as Digital
uncovers resellers and government agencies who may
have unknowingly distributed or implemented the
pirated programs under their various names.
In an effort to assist county officials in determining if
their counties or citizens may be at risk, News For
County Officials has identified many of the trade
names, resellers, and publishers of the suspect
programs. Frontier Consulting announced themselves
as the publisher and Aditya as the developer of
DigiCourt some time . . . Read The Complete
Report
Visit News For County Officials
If you need more information or would
like a copy of the Order of Judgment affected
counties have already received please email me at
dbloys@door.net
Sincerely,
David Bloys
News For County Officials
