A Russian prosecutor's outrageous case against a schoolteacher who installed 12 pirated copies of Windows has been thrown out by a Russian court, calling the case "trivial," AP reports.

"We're off to drink champagne now," Ponosov told The Associated Press by telephone. "Of course, it was trivial."

The open question is still whether Microsoft had anything to do with these criminal charges. Mikhail Gorbachev wrote a letter of appeal to Bill Gates, asking him to drop the charges.

Microsoft, however, said it had nothing to do with the charges, and that the company declined to file a civil action against the teacher last year.
Gorbachev has since stated that he was satisfied with Microsoft's response to his letter.

Ponosov said that 12 new computers at his school came with the bootleg versions of Windows operating system and Microsoft Office already installed. While the charge of major copyright infringement can carry a five year prison term, the prosecutor was seeking $110 fine. Prosecutors claimed Ponosov had caused $10K in damages to Microsoft.