Thai Software Police Cracks Down on Unlicensed Software

Sawatdee user both BiG and small beware! Those running international businesses from PC with pirated software as innocent as presentation and icon management could be snagged in the most recent Thailand government CRACKDOWN. Thailand is turning the heat on and asking others including the Interpol (International Police) and evidence have been gathered and are ready to be submitted to the Cambodian authorities so they can arrest.

Thai software police cracks down on unlicensed software
Police raids small and big copyright violators
Full story:
thaivisa.com/forum/Crackdown-Unlicensed-Software-Inte-t313209.html

BANGKOK: -- Police are now raiding companies suspected of using unlicensed software in an intensified effort to reduce piracy and support the government's "Creative Economy" strategy.

"Over the last month we have reviewed 1,000 investigations in which various businesses are accused of software piracy, and now we are conducting raids on many of them," Pol Colonel Sarayuth Pooltanya of the Economic and Cyber Crime Division (ECD) said yesterday.

In the first raid of this latest enforcement drive, a Chon Buri-based manufacturer of airport trolleys, shopping carts, pallets and other metal products was found using unlicensed design software valued at Bt1.2 million.

Also in the same province, an engineering unit of a global corporation was found with unlicensed design software valued at Bt290,000. This company has assets of more than Bt200 million.

The ECD is gearing up for almost daily raids that should extend through the end of the year.

"Monday was the beginning of what we see as an intense period of enforcing intellectual property rights."

Police say they will continue to track down copyright violators no matter the size of the alleged infraction.

"The only way we can reduce Thailand's software piracy rate is by diligently following up on complaints and taking enforcement actions against those companies violating the Copyright Act.

"We are confident that by aiming to reduce software piracy we can make a positive contribution to the progress of Thailand's Creative Economy strategy," he said.

The ECD has made a significant impact in reducing the software piracy rate of 76 per cent. In each of the last two years, the software piracy rate has fallen by 2 percentage points, a significant drop compared to the reductions achieved in other countries during the same period.

-- The Nation 2009-11-10


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