M'sia taking a hard line on piracy, claims govt

Malaysia has taken action against 101 software piracy violations nationwide, out of the 106 complaints it had received this year, according to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry.

The ministry's enforcement division deputy secretary-general Roslan Mahayuddin said on Thursday that about RM6.2 million (US$1.63 million) worth of pirated goods were also seized by enforcement officers.

He said the Government could not allow the threat of software piracy to be a stumbling block in the promotion of information technology, adding that it was getting tough with the offenders. "The Government is serious and will hold directors and senior managers of companies responsible," Roslan was quoted in The Star after he opened an anti-piracy and software licensing awareness seminar.

The event was jointly organised by the ministry and Business Software Alliance (BSA) to educate corporate end-users on the various issues related to the use of legal software in organisations.

Roslan said as Malaysia was listed in the priority watch list by the US government in software piracy, this gave the latter the right to impose trade sanctions.

BSA's vice-president Lee Tze Mei said corporate software priacy had grown to become a major problem with unauthorised illegal copying at the workplace, and this had created a poor image of corporate Malaysia.

She said the latest global software piracy study released recently revealed that Malaysia's software piracy rate had dropped by 5 percent to 66 percent last year.