Bid To Reduce Pirated Software In Thailand

[webfact]

Bid to reduce pirated software

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Economic Crime Division (ECD) expects to reduce the use of pirated software in the country to 68 per cent in 2013 from about 70 per cent in 2012.

The Department of Intellectual Property Department has also proposed a new law to the cabinet to suppress illegal software. It expects the law to be implemented by the end of this year.

The ECD deputy commander and spokesperson, Chainarong Charoenchainao, said illegal software use in Thailand last year reached at 70 per cent but by the end of 2013, the department expects to reduce it to 68 per cent.

The ECD also hoped that Thailand would be removed from the US Special 301 Report, which has classified Thailand under a Priority Watch List for the last five years.

He said that police in 2012 raided 182 businesses nationwide and found pirated software on 4,573 PCs, valued at about Bt447 million. Japanese auto-parts producers make up the largest group using pirated software with an infringement value of Bt19.5 million, followed by software related to construction and manufacturing in non-metal industries.

He added that the department would encourage businesses and consumers to utilise legal software. It warned that IT malls who allowed purchase of illegal software would face arrest.

Meanwhile, International Data Corporation (IDC) reported that in 2012 the regional average for PC software piracy in the Asia Pacific was 72 per cent, while Thailand's is 70 per cent. In the global market, software piracy reached about 42 per cent, valued at Bt1.9 trillion. Software piracy in Thailand was estimated at about 1 per cent of the global market.

To promote the usage of legal software by government agencies nationwide, Pajchima Tanasanti, director-general at the Intellectual Property Department of the Commerce Ministry, said that the National Intellectual Property Policy Committee had set up the National Intellectual Property Rights Violations Suppression Centre (NISC).

The centre will have participation by about 25 related government agencies such as the Royal Thai Police, the Department of Special Investigation, the Customs Department, the Department of Intellectual Property, the Office of Consumer Protection and other. It will seek to enforce more than 30 laws and regulations related to IPR enforcement. Multi-agency working groups will be formed to tackle specific IP issues such as Internet piracy or counterfeit consumer goods.

The Department of Intellectual Property is currently amending the Copyright Act 1994 to provide further protection of copyrighted work in the digital environment. This amendment has already been approved by the Cabinet and has been submitted to Parliament for consideration. The department expects that the new act will be implemented within this year.

She said the department also plans to ask Microsoft to reduce the cost of Microsoft Office software to government agencies by up to 80 per cent so that the government can have a budget for purchase of legal software.

Pajchima added that in 2011, about 40 per cent of software privacy involved downloads from the Internet and the rest is illegal software purchased at IT shops nationwide. However, in 2012, 50 per cent of software piracy downloads were from the Internet and the rest from IT shops and IT malls.

-- The Nation 2013-01-19

[noitom]

Most major and minor universities in Thailand "copy" textbooks and then resell the copies to students. The students pay anywhere from 2,3 4, 500 baht per copy, and copy machines and service centers are located at various points of "convenience" for mass copying. Indexes are rarely copied and copies are always black and white, so colored graphics are rendered useless as a teaching tool. Even teachers are often provided with a copy to teach. These universities also generally have bookstores, but the bookstores get barely a fraction of the activity of the illegal copy service centers staffed by university employees.

Thailand has a major issue with illegal copying, reselling , and promoting through the use of illegally obtained intellectual property. This announcement that Thailand is "declaring war" on piracy, intellectual property is merely frivolous showboating in typical insincere duplicitous Thai style. Thai newspapers and media should take note of this illegal copying issue and take up the mantra to campaign against it. Copy educational material and textbooks illegally is a disgrace and it is rampant in Thailand at all levels including university and post graduate. It is an outrage and far surpasses the action of petty thieves bootlegging a Lady Gaga cd.

[utalkin2me]

To me, the way this reads is "big money investors want to make more money in Thailand with software, Thai officials listen to the money and will try to appease them". I doubt it will work though.

[DaamNaam]

If the "originals" weren't so expensive then there would be no need to pirate books / CD's, etc.

There's the root problem.

[KhunHehe]

More veneer for the Thai publicity wall.

[tobypowell78]

Haha, love this:

"the department also plans to ask Microsoft to reduce the cost of Microsoft Office software to government agencies by up to 80 per cent so that the government can have a budget for purchase of legal software"

-because, right now the government are using pirated copies?

[Trentham]

Wow - a whole 2% reduction.

I have to stop typing now. I am laughing too much to continue.

[utalkin2me]

It is almost like a hideous circle. The Thais want to legitimize themselves, and when they attempt to do so, manage to delegitimize in the process. One day they may learn that actual action is the way to speak to the public.

[thrawn60]

Heh a 2% deduction...

Guess they should try the police stations, Amphur's, teseban's, hospitals etc. in the next raid, that should reveal some interesting numbers, since I have seen quite some pop-up screens with "Not Genuine software" in almost all the offices I have been too.

Any way, it's good that they try to stop this for business, and many software developers have some reduced prices for the Thai market.

If you don't want to pay for the software, go opensource

[johnopolo]

If you don't want to pay for the software, go opensource

Now that's a refreshingly sensible suggestion! A very significant % of software can be legally substituted .....

[ETatBKK]

The Department of Intellectual Property is currently amending the . . . . . will be implemented within this year.

She said the department also plans to ask Microsoft to reduce the cost of Microsoft Office software to government agencies by up to 80 per cent so that the government can have a budget for purchase of legal software.

she was very honest, indirectly telling everyone Thai Government is NOT using legal software !

in an academic conference on IP creation, we noticed that universities, government offices ( including DIP ) are using non-legal software in the process of creating new IP contents. then in the conference we discussed how to earn IP on these new contents ! ?

[canuckamuck]

I think all pirates should be punished. Not for pirating copyrighted materials, but for the cryptic, incoherent, and usually incomplete instructions needed to use the crack files.

[RigPig]

If you don't want to pay for the software, go opensource

Now that's a refreshingly sensible suggestion! A very significant % of software can be legally substituted .....

Yep when I had my coffee shop I got tiired of spending hours (trying) getting rid of the viruses and malware. I installed Ubuntu on the machines, did a search on how to make it "look like XP" no one new the diference (and I asked quite a few people if they had any problems) and no even knew the dfference. I have been using it for years with far less problems than I ever had with WinDoze. It's like everything, bite the bullet, spend the time and soon you get to the stage where you wondered why you never did it years ago.

There is certainly no reason why Govt departments go down this track. Most nservers are run on a form of Linux anyway.

[MGLinearArt]

Well with SOPA rearing it's ugly head in the states recently, an interesting trend has occurred..

People who used to download, are now buying legally for reduced prices thanks to companies like Steam (okay this is gaming, but IP is IP the world around..)

If you stop charging stupid prices (CDs and DVDs on their initial release, anyone?!?) then people will find legal outlets for their software.. Proven.

[Chicog]

Wow - a whole 2% reduction.

I have to stop typing now. I am laughing too much to continue.

In Thailand, this is known as a "crackdown". If it goes up to 3% it's a "blitz".

[belg]

they sure will have a lot of work closing pantip, mbk, IT stores at your favorite shopping mall selling illegal movies, games, etc...

yeah right, the police will not want their business percentage to go away

[dominique355]

The laws are not the problem. The problem is implementation. In other words: Enforce the existing laws before making new useless laws!

The new laws regarding computers and software will probably only be used to further suppress the freedom of speech.

I remember a few years ago, the Minster of Information and Communication under the Military regime publicly announced that during his visit at Phantip Plaza he could not find any pirated software at all! Problem solved!

[arminbkk]

I will ask my vendor on Sukhumvit sidewalk about this tomorrow!

[stoli]

If the "originals" weren't so expensive then there would be no need to pirate books / CD's, etc.

There's the root problem.

I agree with you that it is expensive, when you look at the cd that you get for $150 US. But you have to look at the tens of thousands of employees working on producing that particular program, and updating it daily to make it better. Frequent updates as well, to 100's of millions of people. I look at it in the way that the great Microsoft software may cost me a few pennies a day to keep me going at my job, or for any use that I want it for. You would be hard put to find any product that you use that gives to you everyday. Without ads. Even you car requires gas weekly, and never gives you a fix update for free.

Edited January 19, 2013 by stoli

[ETatBKK]

many application / software suppliers offer student / home edition ( Microsoft ) or student and teacher academic discount ( Adobe and . . . ) or even general SEA South-East-Asia pricing. in no way we should keep pirated software in our box. how we should tell our kids that we copied 10 applications in our box and we have a good meal today ?

I'm indirectly involved in IP creation. in the finance calculation, there is an estimate on buy-or-copied factor in the pricing element, for protecting the potential lost of in the market.

[transam]

I know BiB that have a DVD/CD shop.

[TommyUK1960]

All the computers I have seen in Thailand run on copied windows systems,

[DaamNaam]

If the "originals" weren't so expensive then there would be no need to pirate books / CD's, etc.

There's the root problem.

I agree with you that it is expensive, when you look at the cd that you get for $150 US. But you have to look at the tens of thousands of employees working on producing that particular program, and updating it daily to make it better. Frequent updates as well, to 100's of millions of people. I look at it in the way that the great Microsoft software may cost me a few pennies a day to keep me going at my job, or for any use that I want it for. You would be hard put to find any product that you use that gives to you everyday. Without ads. Even you car requires gas weekly, and never gives you a fix update for free.

I agree to some degree . But if you think these firms aren't making billions in profit think again.

Until affordable here and other developing nations then piracy will continue to thrive.

[tragickingdom]

Is pirated software still sold at malls? Does anyone pays for pirated software nowadays. Any torrent site gives better choices and the entire purpose of pirating is that it is made freely available and not meant for crooks to make money in a shopping mall.

[bkk_mike]

If the "originals" weren't so expensive then there would be no need to pirate books / CD's, etc.

There's the root problem.

I agree with you that it is expensive, when you look at the cd that you get for $150 US. But you have to look at the tens of thousands of employees working on producing that particular program, and updating it daily to make it better. Frequent updates as well, to 100's of millions of people. I look at it in the way that the great Microsoft software may cost me a few pennies a day to keep me going at my job, or for any use that I want it for. You would be hard put to find any product that you use that gives to you everyday. Without ads. Even you car requires gas weekly, and never gives you a fix update for free.

I have original Office and Windows 7 Home Premium - bought from Amazon in the UK. (They don't sell the family packs in Thailand, so they're cheaper in the UK when you have kids.)

I also have a copy on my laptop - dropped it and killed the hard drive, and although it shipped with Windows 7 Professional (bought in HK - not Thailand) - it didn't ship with disks, just a recovery partition). As my own disks were HP rather than Pro, they wouldn't work with the serial number on the laptop sticker, so I bought a copy of Pro (to use with my valid serial number).

Not only did the copy not ask for a serial number - it's also one of only two PCs in the house that doesn't complain that the software appears to be a copy when it is the ONLY PC in the house not running original full-price Windows. (Hint: even though Windows for sale in the UK doesn't state it is only for use in the EU - it turns out it doesn't like being installed in Asia as it won't activate online, and you have to go through phone activation - a very painful process involving a very long phone call to the UK. Add in that family packs only let you phone activate once before having to talk to customer service even though they're licensed for 3 PCs and I left the kids PCs having the warning after the last reinstall of Windows when I put in bigger hard disks.)

I have no issues paying for software... I even have bought legit Photoshop CS6 for my eldest daughter (Christmas present she asked for - fortunately the student price). But I do get pissed off when Microshaft's anti-piracy measures only impact legitimate buyers.

Edited January 19, 2013 by bkk_mike

[notmyself]

Hint: even though Windows for sale in the UK doesn't state it is only for use in the EU - it turns out it doesn't like being installed in Asia as it won't activate online, and you have to go through phone activation

After first activation within region you can call local.

[schondie]

So if I understand this correctly, the government has admitted that many departments used pirated software because they don't have a budget to buy genuine.

This explains why any data on their systems are so insecure. These systems riddled with malware are a godsend to the traders in stolen credentials.

[theajarn]

Haha, love this:

"the department also plans to ask Microsoft to reduce the cost of Microsoft Office software to government agencies by up to 80 per cent so that the government can have a budget for purchase of legal software"

-because, right now the government are using pirated copies?

They are. Most if not all public schools use pirated copies. I was told (by a person selling IT equipment to schools) that the government has a special 'arrangement' with MS so that MS never checks in on or had public schools raided. However, they do raid private institutions (you know, those nasty competitors that actually try to teach students?) and this is why more and more private institutions are switching to Apple macs, as the macs come with original OS and apps for basic stuff. Also most students (and other people) wouldn't know how or where to get pirated mac games nor would they be able to install/run these and this is good for the computer admins who need to keep the computers clean.

[Thai Dreamer]

Wow - a whole 2% reduction.

I have to stop typing now. I am laughing too much to continue.

In Thailand, this is known as a "crackdown". If it goes up to 3% it's a "blitz".

Soon to be the Hub of Blitzes

[kimamey]

If the "originals" weren't so expensive then there would be no need to pirate books / CD's, etc.

There's the root problem.

Of course the counter to that is it wouldn't need to be so expensive if everyone paid for it. I'm not sure why government agencies should be entitled to buy at only 20% of the price.