Vietnam - Software pirates to walk plank

Checks are being ramped up on computer software ownership.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism (MoCST) ombudsmen, in collaboration with the Hi-tech Crime Control Police Bureau – C50 under the Ministry of Public Security, has launched spot intellectual property rights compliance checks with a focus on computer software in four major Taiwanese companies.

It is part of the renewed government crackdown following a series of awareness and education campaigns targeting agencies and companies delivered by the interagency task force, in cooperation with international organisations, including the Business Software Alliance (BSA), and software publishers, both domestic and international.

The raids were carried out in the wake of a workshop jointly held in March by the BSA and Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City to promote awareness of and compliance with the Intellectual Property Law.

Of the 221 computers checked in these four companies (one in southern Binh Duong province and three remainders in Ho Chi Minh City), many illegally software programnes were found.

The majority of the illicitly copied software comprised Microsoft’s popular office programmes, Lac Viet’s software, including the Lac Viet Dictionary and professional design applications like AutoCAD, SolidWorks and Adobe Photoshop. The total value of the infringed software in this raid is estimated at more than VND4 billion ($192,000).

Apart from heavy fines in line with the Intellectual Property Act and Decree 47/2009/ND-CP, these companies also faced potential law suits from software publishers, according to the taskforce.

“For foreign companies using labour and equipment in Vietnam to produce and export commodities to other countries, if the importing country finds out that these companies do not use licenced software, both the original country of such companies and Vietnam will face severe consequences. Local companies producing commodities for export to international markets without using licenced software may find themselves at risk of losing the privilege of exporting to such countries,” said head of MoCST’s Vietnam Copyright Office Vu Manh Chu.

“We are working with international and local software publishers to counsel businesses on how to use software in the most effective and useful way. In addition to incentivising and praising exemplary companies by granting certificates of recognition, we have in place a relatively long-term pathway in dealing with the issue for the coming years,” Chu added.

According to the Act, companies in such export production industries as textile, footwear, plastic, furniture and so on using software illegally copied in their computers for business purposes will have their finished products tagged as copyright violated and banned from export to the US.

In an increasingly intertwined economy, intellectual property rights are not only protected by the Vietnamese government in accordance with its international commitments, but for companies in Vietnam looking to enter international playing field, respect for software ownership must be held mandatory.

vir.com.vn

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