Vietnam cracks down on Microsoft software pirates
HANOI - Authorities in Vietnam's southern commercial center of Ho
Chi Minh City launched a crackdown against vendors selling pirated copies of
Microsoft programs, an official said Friday.
Market inspectors raided seven computer and software shops Thursday,
seizing 3,025 CD-ROMs containing pirated Microsoft programs and more than
10,000 blank CD-ROMs, said the official with the city's Market Inspection
Bureau.
The shops had sold counterfeit copies for 10,000 dong each (65 cents), the
official said.
The crackdown came at the request of the U.S. software giant's representative
office in Vietnam, and more raids are expected in the coming days, he said.
Executives at Microsoft were not available for comment.
An estimated 97 percent of software on the market in Vietnam is pirated, the
highest rate in the world, according to the industry trade group Business
Software Alliance.
Misdemeanor fines for pirating intellectual property can run from 200,000 dong
(dlrs 13) to 70 million dong (dlrs 4,575), while criminal charges bring one to
three years in prison and up to 200 million dong (dlrs 13,000) in fines. Only a
handful of cases are prosecuted each year because the laws are unclear.
The market inspection official said authorities are considering punishment
against shop owners.
The Associated Press - October 17, 2002.
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