Source-Code Theft Suspect Caught at Border
By RIVA RICHMOND
Wall Street Journal
August 22, 2007; Page B10
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118775109729205007.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news
Federal law-enforcement officials have arrested a Russian national who
allegedly stole a U.S. company's programming source code.
The company, closely held Alibre Inc., says a former employee took the
source code in an incident the company reported in 2003. The suspect, Roman
Voznyuk, was arrested as he tried to re-enter the U.S. this month.
Mr. Voznyuk is scheduled to appear today before Magistrate Judge William F.
Sanderson Jr. in U.S. District Court in Dallas. His attorney, Carlton C.
McLarty of the Dallas Federal Public Defender Office, said he will seek a
release on bond.
Mr. Voznyuk was arrested Aug. 6 in upstate New York as he entered the U.S.
from Canada. He was transferred to Dallas, where he was indicted three
years ago for allegedly infringing copyrights held by Alibre, based in
nearby Richardson, Texas.
The defendant is accused of stealing source code for Alibre Design,
three-dimensional solid-modeling software for creating virtual prototypes
of products. Alibre Design competes with products by SolidWorks Corp. and
Autodesk Inc.. Mr. Voznyuk allegedly offered it under the name RaceCAD
Design Professional for download on the Internet. Mr. McLarty said Mr.
Voznyuk likely will plead not guilty at an arraignment sometime in the next
few weeks.
Paul Grayson, Alibre's founder, said Mr. Voznyuk was a software developer
at Alibre until he was laid off in 2003 amid a business downturn. Unable to
find another job in the U.S., he returned to Russia where he began trying
to market RaceCAD online, Mr. Grayson said.
Mr. Grayson said he began an email dialogue with Mr. Voznyuk to try to
persuade him to stop, an exchange the company cited as evidence that Mr.
Voznyuk had stolen the source code from Alibre. Mr. Grayson already had
contacted the Justice Department, which was involved in the case but wasn't
able to pursue Mr. Voznyuk in Russia. The Justice Department confirmed the
arrest and court date but declined to comment further.
Mr. Grayson also took his story to the media and to customers to try to
block purchases of the clone software. He says he didn't lose customers to
Mr. Voznyuk.
Mr. Voznyuk, who more recently had been working in Toronto, apparently was
nabbed while entering the U.S. at Niagara Falls for a weekend stay.
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George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
