Retailers Agree Not To Rent Computer Software Without Permission From
Publishers

Washington, D.C., Feb. 7, 1996 - The Software Publishers Association (SPA)
announced today that it has settled lawsuits against four software retail
organizations for illegally renting SPA member software programs: Jumbo
Software and Jumbo Software Guelph in Southwestern Ontario, and two
Gametronics stores in Calgary. The lawsuits were on behalf of six SPA
members: Broderbund Software, Living Books, Papyrus Design Group, Delrina,
Intuit Inc. and LucasArts Entertainment. Another lawsuit against
Softwarehouse of Ontario is still pending.

As part of the agreement, each store has agreed not to rent computer
software in the future without express written permission from the
publisher, regardless of whether the software is in the form of diskettes
or on CD-ROM. Rental, as defined in the agreements with the defendants,
refers to any sort of rental or evaluation arrangement, whether that be a
"try before you buy" or a "buy-back" plan. Additionally, each organization
has agreed to make an undisclosed monetary payment to SPA as a penalty for
the copyright violation.

Parliament amended the Canadian Copyright Act in 1993 to include the rental
of software as a distinct right that cannot be exercised without the
copyright holder's express authorization. The U.S. Copyright Act contains
a similar provision concerning software rental. In March 1995, a U.S.
federal court ruled in favor of SPA members in a civil copyright
infringement suit against Global Software & Accessories Inc. for
unauthorized rental of computer software.

The lawsuits are part of SPA's ongoing anti-piracy activities. Since 1988,
SPA has fought software piracy through education and enforcement. SPA
distributes materials designed to educate software users and to help
businesses, government entities and educational institutions manage their
internal software practices. SPA also has initiated thousands of lawsuits
and audits on behalf of its members against businesses, computer dealers,
bulletin board services and educational institutions that have violated
its members' copyrights. SPA's anti-piracy hotline, (800) 388-7478,
accepts calls from throughout Canada and the United States reporting
software violations and requests for information and materials. SPA may
also be contacted on the Internet at piracy@spa.org.

SPA's focus is on companies developing and publishing software applications
and interactive content. SPA is the leading trade association of the
desktop software industry, representing the leading publishers as well as
many start-up firms in the business, consumer and education markets. Its
1,200 members account for 90 percent of the sales of the U.S. packaged
software industry. SPA is an international organization with offices both
in the United States and Europe. SPA press releases are available through
CompuServe (GO:SPAFORUM), on SPA's Web site at http://www.spa.org or
through Fax-on-Demand at (800) 637-6823.

Software Publishers Association
1730 M St, Northwest, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-452-1600,  Fax: 202-223-8756
 
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