Legal action planned against some PC system builders

The Business Software Alliance, the software industry watchdog, yesterday said it intended to take legal action against a number of local PC system builders for selling pirated software.

No less than 16 operators allegedly selling pirated software will be receiving a letter in the coming days urging them to stop the practice or face legal action, Aly Harakeh, BSA representative for the Eastern Mediterranean, told The Times.

Mr Harakek said he was "appalled" at the flagrant abuse of intellectual property rules in Malta.

He said he was surprised to see widespread piracy at the Information Technology & Telecommunications Fair at the Trade Fair Grounds in Naxxar.

BSA representatives were sent to Malta specifically to attend the IT&T Fair and observe the method of operation and sale practices of local system builders.

The representatives discovered that a number of local system builders were prepared to sell computers loaded with pirated software "with no hesitation whatsoever".

For instance, a number of system builders offered to supply the BSA representatives with PCs which included pre-installed Microsoft Windows XP operating system software - without the original CD, manuals and certificate of authenticity.

The representatives of BSA also checked the hardware for evidence that the software was licensed but could not find any on the locally assembled PCs at a large number of stands at the fair.

"What surprised me most is the open manner pirated items were being sold at the fair," Mr Harakek said.

BSA urged the authorities to take action against such infringements of intellectual property laws especially in view of European Union membership.

Such practices reflected badly on the image of the country, he said.

BSA claimed that piracy levels in Malta reached 53 per cent in 2001, a figure that was "way too high" especially when one considered that the average piracy rate in EU countries was 37 per cent.

A study carried out by BSA showed that piracy in Malta resulted in lost retail software sales of some $1 million in 2001.

Still, the percentage of piracy has been on a downward trend since 1995, when piracy was reported at some 77 per cent.

Earlier this year, complaints by a member company of the BSA resulted in two convictions.

In the first court case, the defendant was handed a fine of Lm500 and all his hardware confiscated.

In the second case, the defendant was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, suspended for four years, and all his apparatus, seized by police, was confiscated.

The BSA educates computer users on software copyright and fights software piracy.

BSA members include renowned names such as Adobe, Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard, and IBM.