Trading house raided for violating software copyright laws
KARACHI- Police here raided a large size-trading house on the complaint of the software copyrights owners, which despite frequent requests had failed to legalize computer software use in the company.
The police confiscated computers with live data being used with illegal software and also arrested a company officer for alleged infringement of country’s copyright laws, which prescribe use of copied software as a “non-bailable offence,” said the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global software owners’ association, in a statement.
The company whose name has been withheld for legal reasons dealt in domestic appliances and electronic goods.
“This action was taken after the company ignored BSA’s repeated warnings to replace all the computer programmes with legal software,” stated Mr. Al-Redha, Director, BSA, Middle East.
When the company was asked to show licenses for the software in use it failed to do so. “Therefore the computers loaded with illegal software were confiscated while an official was charged and taken to police station, facing his first criminal charge,” he said.
The law enforcing authorities strong step should send a clear signal to all the companies to legalize their software to avoid any arrest and damage to their reputation, Al-Redha said and added: “In addition it also sends a strong signal of support for local software developers, who will see this as an essential step towards making a viable local software industry.”
Copyright violators, he said, face stiff penalties in Pakistan that may include a fine up to Rs 200,000, seizure of computers installed with illegal software and a prison sentence of up to three years.
Source: The Nation
Date:5/21/2002
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