Tracking down on software piracy in the Philippines
Posted on December 29th, 2009
In the efforts to crack down software piracy in the Philippines, the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) caught two men installing counterfeit software as an “add-on service” at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City recently.
The two men, who are now facing up to nine years imprisonment and a fine of P1.5 million for violating the Optical Media Act, are working for Laptop Zone Wellcom located in Virra Mall.
The PAPT said, during the buy bust operation, they were also able to seize one CPU, one CD installer and a USB thumb drive loaded with pirated software.
Aside from the store in Virra Mall, Greenhills, the anti-piracy team also raided two other stores in Quezon City and Quiapo. The PAPT raided the Discount PC at the Gilmore IT Center in Quezon City and Gigahertz Computer System in Quiapo where they were able to seize five CPUs, eight CD installers and a hard drive containing counterfeit software valued at approximately P300,000.
The PAPT was formed to track down and stop the software piracy in the country. The team is composed of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Optical Media Board (OMB) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). The group is supported by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Intellectual Property Coalition (IPC).
Atty. Dante Bonoan of the NBI-National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights said the “add-on” services from PC stores is a way of attracting customers. “The holiday shopping rush is a good opportunity for business to earn more. However, as the competition becomes tight, some stores resort to illegal promotion schemes as offering to load pirated software as add-on service to customers to gain undue advantage over their competitors,” he said.
According to the BSA, piracy-related losses in the country have increased to $202 million in 2008 from $147 million in 2008.
