Crackdown on software pirates to be launched
Malaysia will launch a crackdown from Sept 1 on illegal software and has warned some 200 companies to clean up their act or face penalties, reports said today.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Muhyiddin Yassin described piracy as a "cancer" and said enforcement officers would work with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) to conduct raids on corporations.
BSA has identified 200 companies using illegal software and has sent out letters urging them to legalise their software by the end of the month, the afternoon Malay Mail daily said.
"Enough is enough... we will not tolerate the illegal, unlicensed use of software in businesses. It is against the law and we will come down hard on those who infringe the law," Muhyiddin was quoted as saying.
"We will hold criminally responsible, as provided by the law, the company directors."
Under the Copyright Act 1987, offenders face up to five years in jail and a fine of 10,000 ringgit (2,632 dollars) for each unlicensed software. The penalties are doubled for subsequent offences.
End-user piracy
BSA Asia-Pacific regional enforcement manager Tarun Sawney said the biggest threat to Malaysia was end-user piracy, which was rampant in local organisations.
"It is more a mental attitude and the lack of scruples. The important message here is that when you buy a software, you don't buy the ownership of it but just the right to use it," he added.
Muhyiddin said the rate of software piracy has dropped from its peak of 80 percent in 1996 to 70 percent last year following educational and enforcement campaigns.
The New Straits Times said this would be the third campaign against software piracy, after two operations in 1998 and 2000.
It quoted Muhyiddin as saying that the ministry would also look into ways to bust syndicates involved in making pirated VCDs but gave no details.
Piracy is a flourishing industry in this Southeast Asian country, with cheap CDs, VCDs and DVDs widely available for sale on the streets and in shops despite government crackdowns.
The government has set up an intellectual property committee to look into arrest of copyright pirates. The Copyright Act empowers enforcement officers to raid and seize items but not to arrest suspects. AFP
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