Police piracy sweep nets 48 companies
The Royal Thai Police have followed through on their vow to continue efforts to reduce software piracy among companies that violate licensing agreements in their business operations.
Police raided 48 companies over the past two months, finding unlicensed software worth Bt67.5 million. The businesses had average revenue of Bt188.5 million last year, with the largest having recorded an income of Bt3.9 billion.
Of the 48 raids, the most significant was on a manufacturer of iron and steel that employed 78 staff using personal computers with unlicensed Autodesk, Microsoft and Thai software.
The company’s shareholders were found to have been of Thai, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Japanese, Malaysian and mainland Chinese origin.
The other companies raided in the software-piracy sweep included a furniture wholesaler, an engineering company, an electrical-equipment supplier, a utilities installer, a company providing surveillance-camera services, a maintenance company, a design and construction company, an event-marketing business, a manufacturer of coding machines, a construction company, a food processor and a plastic-toy wholesaler.
Of the 48 companies raided, 30 have offices in Bangkok.
The sweep, which took place in May and June, serves as a warning to other companies that using unlicensed software is a violation of copyright laws, police said.
“Our preference is that companies proactively determine what software they need and then use genuine, legal software in their business operations as opposed to being raided, paying fines and penalties and then buying genuine software in reaction to enforcement actions,” said Pol Colonel Chainarong Charoenchainao, deputy commander and spokesman of the Economic Crime Suppression Division.
“However, if companies do not proactively use genuine software, then we are obligated to enforce the law and raid their place of business, collect proof that pirated software is being used and halt this use,” he said. He said the police had a firm policy to pursue software-piracy enforcement, especially in the central business district of Bangkok, other key cities and industrial zones.
Joining forces
They will also join forces with stakeholders to provide education to build awareness among businesspeople on software-asset management, licence management and registration, he added.
The recent raids found widespread use of unlicensed Microsoft, Autodesk and Thai Software Enterprise programs.
Although Thailand has made continued progress towards lowering its software-piracy rate, which fell from 80 per cent in 2006 to 72 per cent in 2011– according to an International Data Corp report released in May 2012 – a lot more needs to be done.
The regional average for PC software piracy in the Asia-Pacific region is 60 per cent, said the IDC report.
