Big spike in seizures of unlicensed, illegal software
In the first 11 months of the year, the Economic Crime Suppression Division seized nearly Bt500 million worth of unlicensed and illegal software at 214 businesses, almost 20 per cent higher than 2014.
This indicates that corporations need a better understanding about the Copyright Act, the associated legal penalties for infringements and the critical implications to their businesses, ECD said.
This year, ECD police added more channels for the public to report the use of unlicensed and illegal software at workplaces, including through social media.
“Use of unlicensed and illegal software is a crime, and is therefore unacceptable. Thai software developers are among those hurt by software piracy,” ECD deputy commander Colonel Dr Kittisak Plathong said.
“We are enforcing the rule of law to protect software developers’ intellectualproperty rights. We encourage the senior management of businesses to understand that softwarelicensing audits should be an essential component of corporate risk management and must be conducted periodically to ensure that they will not have to encounter the risks associated with using unlicensed and illegal software, including legal action.”
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