Software firms say US law good for kingdom

“While this law might appear to have few benefits for Thai software developers, it sheds light on the importance of the IT and software industry to nations as a means of surviving economic crises and achieving longterm growth,” Somporn Maneeratanakul, president of ATSI, said last week.
The new law is aimed at levelling the playing field among manufacturers and exporters worldwide, and requires that they use only legitimate IT – both software and hardware – in carrying out their business from offices to factories.
The law is applicable to those selling and supplying finished goods and components that are parts of other products. Violators face the possibility of blacklisting or having their goods seized.
“The emergence of the Unfair Competition Act, or UCA, shows how seriously US state governments take care of their multibilliondollar software industry while supporting valueadded innovation and job creation in a systematic manner,” Somporn said.
Using pirated software may give a manufacturer an unfair cost advantage over rivals that use genuine software, so the Washington and Louisiana state governments have created an avenue for disadvantaged firms to recover losses and stop unfair competitors from selling goods in these states until they comply with the law. Several other US states are considering passing a similar law.
Somporn said that over the past four years, Thailand has been successful in dropping software piracy rates faster than virtually all countries in AsiaPacific except Hong Kong. That record indicates Thailand’s determination to shed its image as a haven for software piracy and to become a haven for innovation. However, the software piracy rate remains high – 73 per cent.
“Going legal may not come cheap, but the cost of software legalisation is worth the peace of mind. As business operators, you will have less worry that your computer systems might be prone to malware and viruses brought by pirated software, or that your competitors or the police might find out that you are using illegal software.
“I can speak from my experience as an owner of a software development company that our Thai software products are among the prime targets for software piracy even though they cost just a few hundred baht,” he said.
The cost is small considering that software is the soul of daytoday business operations and developers deserve to be rewarded for making life easier.
“If the right to be rewarded for innovation is not protected, people will be discouraged to innovate, and we all have to make do with whatever is available. Using genuine software also speaks volumes about your social corporate responsibility in everyday business practice. What you do every day as a corporate citizen speaks more about yourself than what you do occasionally for publicity purposes.”
Somporn will be one of the speakers at the first Thai seminar on UCA on Wednesday, hosted by the Department of Intellectual Property and Tilleke & Gibbins, to educate Thai exporters and manufacturers.
Entitled “Shifting Sands in International Trade – Opportunities for Southeast Asian Manufacturers”, the seminar is open to business operators and exporters by invitation.