TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

First Software Piracy Indictments Handed Down Under New Law: The indictments were returned by a federal grand jury against two Silicon Valley companies and several individuals. In two separate cases, defendants allegedly made thousands of copies of computer software belonging to Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash. They are the nation’s first indictments for software piracy under a new federal copyright law that made commercial counterfeiting a felony instead of a misdemeanor, acting U.S. Atty. Michael Yamaguchi said. Named in one indictment are Prosys Inc. of Fremont, Avenue Systems Group, Joseph Wu, Henry Siu Kwan and William Alvin Hay. In the second case, indicted were Ever Supply Inc. of Milpitas, Roland Tsai and Tony Shen.