ubject

[Gary Howland <gary@systemics.com>]

Swastikas halt Corel sales 
By Reuters
November 25, 1996, 12 p.m. PT 

	MUNICH, Germany--Corel (COSFF) software company
	has temporarily halted sales of its top-selling Corel Draw
	graphics program in Germany because it includes four
	banned Nazi symbols, a company spokesman said today. 

	The Canadian company will remove three drawings of Adolf
	Hitler and one swastika from future versions of its popular
	software, spokesman Thomas Layer said. 

	It is also distributing warning labels to be placed on versions
	now being sold, Layer said. The label warns that the
	"improper use of digital images and symbols" found in the
	programs Corel Draw 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 is prohibited in
	Germany, which bans public displays of Nazi symbols. 

	Munich's state prosecutor launched an investigation into
	the software on October 2 after learning that someone had
	used the banned images to print business cards for a
	neo-Nazi group, Layer said. 

	This is not the first time that the company has had complaints
	due to their clip art images.  In 1992, pressure from US Black
	rights organisations forced drawings of the Ku Kux Klan to be
	removed from the collection.

	Consideration is also being given to the removal of other images
	from the collection, either due to legal restrictions in
	various countries, or due to complaints from organisations
	such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  Images considered for
	removal include a burning US flag, Josef Stalin, the Star of
	David icon, a cannabis leaf, and a drawing of a woman in a
	bathing costume.

	Corel Draw provides more than 24,000 clip art drawings and
	symbols that computer users can copy. The company
	suspended the sales on November 19.