Q1 sees big jump in anti-piracy raids
Police raids on businesses using unlicensed software grew by 58 per cent year on year in the first quarter amid increasing efforts to improve the Kingdom's reputation for protecting copyright.
During the first quarter of the year, officers from the Economic and Cyber Crime Division (ECD) raided 49 businesses using unlicensed software on 742 personal computers worth an estimated Bt103 million.
Much of the pirated software was for industrial design purposes, but some businesses were also found using language software made illicitly in Thailand as well as standard business software.
In the most ECD recent raids, a manufacturing company with an ownership structure 99.99 per cent Samoan, with the rest owned by Thai and Chinese shareholders, was found using 56 PCs containing pirated software. This company, with 2011 revenue of Bt3.8 billion and assets of Bt1.7 billion, also operates in Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, mainland China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, Vietnam and the United States.
The company was allegedly using unlicensed software made by Microsoft and ThaiSoftware Enterprise.
In another case, a motion-picture producer based in Bangkok was found using pirated Autodesk software on four PCs. The company works on animation for a popular Thai cartoon featured on national television. This is the second time in recent months that a company working on this particular cartoon was found by police to be using pirated software.
Seven businesses in Chang Mai were accused of violating software-licensing agreements. These businesses operate in the architecture, design, construction and real-estate industries, and were found using unlicensed Autodesk software.
"Business leaders need to ensure that their company is using licensed software," said Pol Colonel Chainarong Charoenchainao, deputy commander and spokesman of the ECD. "The risks of using unlicensed software are simply too great. Not only are there business disruption, fines and penalties, but now businesses that export to the US may also face trade issues."
Many of the businesses currently under investigation for software piracy report significant annual revenue, indicating that piracy may be a matter of lax internal enforcement of software copyrights versus the inability to afford software licences.
Thailand aims to overtake Hong Kong with the fastest drop in software piracy in the Asia-Pacific region. It has been making progress; the Kingdom lowered the piracy rate from 80 per cent in 2006 to 73 per cent in 2010.
