}UHPII} FBI AGENTS RAID ALLEGED PIRATED SOFTWARE BULLETIN BOARD IN MILLBURY, MA. (JUNE 10) UPI - FBI agents Wednesday raided a Boston area computer bulletin board suspeced of illegally distributing copyright software to subscribers in 36 states and 11 foreign countries - including Iraq. No arrests were made by agents in the raid on the Davy Jones Locker bulletin board in Millbury, Mass., but several computers and various telecomunications equipment were seized, along with financial and other business records. An FBI spokesman in Boston said evidence seized will be used in a continuing investigation to determine whether criminal charges will be brought against individuals involved in the bulletin (146 min left), (H)elp, More? board operation. The raid was conducted using a search warrant issued on the basis of evidence gathered by investigators for the Software Publishers Assoiation, a Washington-based computer software industry trade group. ''We do a lot of investigation, and this one looked like it was serioous enough to be of interest to the FBI, and indeed, they thought it was,'' said Ilene Rosenthal, director of litigation for the industry group. Following the raid, the SPA filed a civil suit in federal court charging board operators with copyright infringement and seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory damages. The SPA said the Millbury bulletin board offered subscribers more than 200 pirated programs. The offerings included many high-priced and sophisticated business programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3. Even AutoCAD, a sophisticated design and engineering program with a suggested retail price of $3,500, was among the pirated (146 min left), (H)elp, More? offerings. Rosenthal said the SPA investigation showed Davy Jones Locker even had beta copies - pre-release versions of programs sent to colleagues, selected major customers and reviewers for evaluation and suggestions - of a number of programs. ''What really upset (publishers) is that this board was somehow getting software prior to the time the companies went public worth the program - allowing members to copy software that was not even on the market yet,'' she said. She said the SPA investigation was prompted by the discovery that a beta version of a program by Lotus Development was on the bulletin board before the software was on the market.  73  Even a beta version of IBM's new OS/2 Version 2.0 operating system was available on the bulletin board before the final program was available from IBM. ''The SPA applauds the FBI's action today,'' said Rosenthal. ''This is one of the first instances that we are aware of where the FBI has shut down a pirate bulletin board for distributing copyright (146 min left), (H)elp, More? software. ''It clearly demonstrates a trend that the government is recognizing the seriousness of software copyright violation. It is also significant that the Senate passed ... a bill that would make illegal distribution of copyrighted software a felony,'' she said. Rosenthal said that, for a fee of $49 for three months or $99 for one year, Davy Jones Locker offered subscribers access to a special section of the bulletin board where they could download copyright software. The amount of time subscribers could spend in the special section was limited, as was the number of programs they could download. To expand the number of programs available, Rosenthal said, Dave Jones Locker gave credits - exchangeable for extra connect time or the right to download more programs - to subscribers who provided new copyright software for the bulletin board. The SPA estimates software pircacy, worldwide, costs the industry $10 billion to $12 billion a year. (146 min left), (H)elp, More? The SPA described Davy Jones Locker as an international business with paid subscribers in 36 states and 11 foreign countries, including Australia, Canada Croatia, France, Germany, Iraq, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.