~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam hauls pirate software in raid

Vietnamese police has raided a computer retailer in the capital and seized more than 30,000 dollars in pirated software. The raid on Viet Nhat Equipment Co. was the latest in a string of attempts by Vietnam to make a dent in a thriving counterfeit software and music industry, according to Vu Xuan Thanh, deputy chief of inspection for the Ministry of Culture and Information. Culture and Public Security police seized computers that were pre-installed with pirate versions of Microsoft Windows XP, Office XP and Autodesk AutoCAD2004. In all, the haul was worth 500 mln Vietnamese dong (US$ 31,400), Thanh said.

"This is the first step in our new programme to crack down on pirated software in 2006," Thanh said. Vietnam has Asia's highest rate of pirate software, with 92% of all software sold being counterfeit, according to a Microsoft official. Microsoft estimated that pirated software cost it 55 mln dollars in Vietnam in 2004. However, even Microsoft admitted that the high price of legal software limited its sales potential in a poor country like Vietnam, where average per capita income is officially 650 dollars per year. "Genuine software in Vietnam is still very expensive," a Microsoft representative said. "For instance, a genuine Autodesk AutoCAD2004 CD is sold for up to 4,000 dollars, compared with a pirated CD of only 10,000 dong (0.63 dollars)."

Vietnam last year joined the Bern Convention on intellectual property and also passed a new copyright law. The government has vowed to crack down on piracy as part of commitments to join the World Trade Organization.

The Financial Mirror (.cy) - March 17, 2006.