HA NOI — Viet Nam recorded a PC software piracy rate of 81 per cent last year, a reduction of 2 per cent for two years in a row, compared to 83 per cent in 2010 and 85 per cent in 2009.

A corner of a software development division at an IT company in Da Nang City. — VNA/VNS Photo Van Son

This was according to statistics released in a press briefing yesterday in Ha Noi by the international Business Software Alliance.

The alliance’s 2011 Global Software Piracy study showed the commercial value of the piracy was US$395 million, representing a 4 per cent decrease in value from the previous year.

“The decrease in software piracy is testament to the great efforts of the Government,” said Tarun Sawney, alliance senior piracy director for the Asia-Pacific region.

“Admittedly, there is still much work to be done and Viet Nam faces a stiff challenge in reducing the level of piracy to levels found in the region or the world – 60 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. However, I am confident that Viet Nam is on the right track.”

He said the alliance worked closely with Government authorities in a Partnership in Protection of Software Copyright, which was established since 2008, to reduce software piracy rates.

Numerous education campaigns and software asset management seminars had been conducted for the business community, including IT retailers and educational institutions.

Government outreach and crackdown campaigns have also been the feature of initiatives conducted to drive down piracy rates.

To get statistics, Tarun Sawney said the alliance had to find how many new PCs were used each year and what software were they using and compared that with a survey on how much software was sold in Viet Nam.

“In order to stimulate the use of legal software, we had to encourage the Government to conduct a public campaign that promotes respect for IP law and deter piracy through implementation of stronger criminal and administrative sanctions,” said Tarun.

Ha Than, CEO of Lac Viet Computing Corp, said if 81 per cent of consumers admitted they shoplifted – even rarely – authorities would react by increasing police patrols and penalties.

Software piracy demanded a similar response, concerted public education and vigorous law enforcement. Coming from the local software industry scene where they invested heavily into developing cutting-edge software solutions, they really needed all the help they could get from the Government to ensure a brighter future for themselves.

Some 36 per cent of admitted software pirates in Asia-Pacific surveyed in the study, said they acquired software illegally “all of the time”, “most of the time” or “occasionally”, while 27 per cent said they “rarely” did so. The study also found that admitted software pirates in Asia-Pacific were predominantly male, with 32 per cent between the ages of 18-24.

Alliance president and CEO Robert Holleyman said software piracy was a drain on the global economy, IT innovation and job creation. Governments must take steps to modernise their intellectual property laws and expand enforcement efforts to ensure those who pirated software faced real consequences, he said.

He also said the global commercial value of pirated software had climbed from US$58.8 billion in 2010 to $63.4 billion in 2011.

Globally, the study found that piracy rates in emerging markets towered over those in mature markets – 68 per cent to 24 per cent respectively, on average – and emerging markets accounted for an overwhelming majority of the global increase in the commercial value of software theft, Holleyman said. — VNS

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HCM CITY — The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Hi-Tech Crime Control Police Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security are conducting surprise inspections for intellectual property rights compliance, with a focus on software use at four major wholly foreign-invested Taiwanese companies.

The raids are part of a renewed strong-arm effort by the Government following series of public awareness campaigns over the last few years targeting agencies and companies delivered in co-operation with such international organisations as the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and domestic and international software publishers.

The latest inspections followed a workshop held in March by the BSA and the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in HCM City to promote awareness of and compliance with intellectual property rights. All four of the Taiwanese companies which were targeted are large-scale enterprises with 200 to 7,000 employees, one based in southern Binh Duong Province and the other three in HCM City. They are involved in footwear and garment production, plastics, motorbikes and automobile parts.

A mission representative said that, of 221 computers inspected in the four companies, a large number had unlicensed software, including popular Microsoft office programmes and operating systems; Lac Viet software, including their dictionary programme; and professional design applications like AutoCAD, SolidWorks and Adobe Photoshop. The total value of the infringed software found in the raids was estimated at over VND4 billion (around US$200,000).

“Many foreign companies have a thorough understanding of intellectual property rights and would sue someone immediately if their products were illegally copied, but they will deliberately try to evade buying computer software licences and will do so only if they get caught by us,” said the deputy inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism, Pham Xuan Phuc.

“We recommend that companies, organisations and the general public to use licensed and legitimate computer software,” Phuc said. “If you ignore this, sooner or later, we will find out and hold you accountable before the law.”

The Law on Intellectual Property and Government Decree No 47/2009/ND-CP set fines for violation of copyright and related interests, as well as subject violators to civil lawsuits from software publishers.

In a recent workshop, Dr Vu Manh Chu, head of the Viet Nam Copyright Office, Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism, said enterprises which export to international markets face additional risks from using unlicensed software.

“Local companies producing goods for export to some countries without using licensed software may find themselves at risk of losing the privilege of exporting to such countries,” Chu warned.

“We are working with international and local software publishers to counsel businesses on how to use software in the most effective and useful way,” he said. “In addition to incentivising and praising exemplary companies in complying with software ownership laws by granting them certificates of recognition, we also have a relatively long-term plan in place.”

With recent proceedings by the US against a company in HCM City, greater efforts to address violations by exporters to the US market are needed.

An economist said that the era of ‘freebie’ software in Viet Nam may be about over and that businesses needed to take the issue seriously before it was too late.

In an increasingly intertwined global economy, intellectual property rights were protected by the Vietnamese Government in accordance with its international commitments, and Vietnamese companies looking to enter the international playing field needed to realise that respect for software licences was mandatory. —VNS

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