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Eight informants received a total reward amounting to more than P1 million from the Business Software Alliance (BSA). The informants tipped authorities on companies who are using pirated software in their businesses for the past 12 months.

The information provided by the informants led to the successful enforcement actions against the companies allegedly infringing on software copyright owned by BSA members, according to Atty. Bien Marquez, BSA consultant in the Philippines. The act, Marquez said, is a violation of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

The BSA is a US-based non-profit organization promoting the use of licensed software.

Companies who were found to use pirated software were charged with copyright infringement. If convicted, said Marquez, the owners could face a one to three-year jail sentence and a P150,000 fine.

“We’ve had three convictions so far but because of our current justice system, some cases are still on appeal while at least one individual who has been convicted opted to go on probation. Most of those convicted are first-time offenders,” Marquez said.

Marquez is also urging the lawmakers to implement a tougher law against copyright infringement, adding that it has been more than a decade since the Intellectual Property Rights Code was passed. He said various business groups are already in talks with the Supreme Court (SC) and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to come up with special rules on intellectual property cases.

For the past 12 months, the BSA hotline has received over 500 calls from informants who gave valuable information on companies using pirated software, according to Tarun Sawney, BSA Senior Director of Anti-Piracy Asia-Pacific. He said that these calls in the BSA hotline only prove that Filipinos are now starting to realize the importance of fighting software piracy.