July 24, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 20, 1429

KARACHI July 23: Police raided five computer shops in the Boat Basin area and seized 14 computers and 1,509 pirated software CDs for violating the relevant intellectual property rights regulations, according to a statement issued by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) here on Wednesday.

The BSA claimed that the computer dealers were found installing unlicensed software in the computers purchased by their customers. “Criminal cases have been registered against the dealers,” said Aly Harakeh, the BSA spokesman for East Mediterranean and Pakistan, adding: “This enforcement activity demonstrates the crackdown on software pirates going on across the country.”

He said that the law-enforcement agencies — FIA, police and the Customs — are taking action against software pirates in major cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad and the crackdown would soon be extended to other parts of the country.

He said that sale, purchase and use of licensed software was in the interest of all stakeholders, including dealers and users, and this would also ensure protection against viruses, malware and spyware, besides legal liabilities.

He reminded dealers and buyers in computers and software that the copyright law prescribed its violators up to three years imprisonment.—APP