A Falang mate of mine owns a truck Axel manufacturing company in Rayong. He got raided by a cop and private investigator whereby they found one, 6 month old bootleg software installation. The PI are trying to play hardball.

Anyone have experience with this sort of action? Court or settle?

Not unlikely they are fake copyright cops. Look for song copyright cops in Pattaya. I understand that most of those 'raids' are requested by an organization called bsa. I do think that genuine police do these raids at they own accord. BSA only targets companies which are alleged to have large scale copyright infringement. Furthermore these 'raids' have requirements with level of police staff. Not any police officer can tell you to have them take a look at your computer.

Did they have a warrant? Did it specify exactly what they were after?

Methinks he should have just sent them on the way and called a lawyer (or a friendly policeman).

Not unlikely they are fake copyright cops. Look for song copyright cops in Pattaya. I understand that most of those 'raids' are requested by an organization called bsa. I do think that genuine police do these raids at they own accord. BSA only targets companies which are alleged to have large scale copyright infringement. Furthermore these 'raids' have requirements with level of police staff. Not any police officer can tell you to have them take a look at your computer.

Apparently this raid properly set up. Odd amount of effort for one single license infringement.

Did they have a warrant? Did it specify exactly what they were after?

Methinks he should have just sent them on the way and called a lawyer (or a friendly policeman).

Yes, they seemed to have all the paperwork.

At a minimum he will have to replace all software found with fully legal software. He then will have to pay a considerable fine at least a couple of times the cost of the software and sign agreements not to do it again. But first check they are fully legal and autorised to do this and get a lawyer.

the way this is worded it sounds as if it may be CAD software or engineering software such as lathe control..costs for these are high...and protected.

At a minimum he will have to replace all software found with fully legal software. He then will have to pay a considerable fine at least a couple of times the cost of the software and sign agreements not to do it again. But first check they are fully legal and autorised to do this and get a lawyer.

the way this is worded it sounds as if it may be CAD software or engineering software such as lathe control..costs for these are high...and protected.

Thank you Harry, I'm not sure what the software was.

At a minimum he will have to replace all software found with fully legal software. He then will have to pay a considerable fine at least a couple of times the cost of the software and sign agreements not to do it again. But first check they are fully legal and autorised to do this and get a lawyer.

the way this is worded it sounds as if it may be CAD software or engineering software such as lathe control..costs for these are high...and protected.

Thank you Harry, I think the fines will force him to go to court. Seems like an extortion racket to me.

Real fines if it is genuine are enourmous...and they tend to enforce them to show that they are enforcing internationl copyright treaties. ....I would suggest it could be worth an investment of a reasonable amount for advice from one of the really expensive Internationlal law firms.

At a minimum he will have to replace all software found with fully legal software. He then will have to pay a considerable fine at least a couple of times the cost of the software and sign agreements not to do it again. But first check they are fully legal and autorised to do this and get a lawyer.

the way this is worded it sounds as if it may be CAD software or engineering software such as lathe control..costs for these are high...and protected.

Thank you Harry, I'm not sure what the software was.

But if they "seemed to have all the paperwork", it should have specified it.

As a related aside my wife's small cafe on the darkside had a visit from two young ladys trying to sell her a 3000THB p.a. license to play music "legally" in the cafe. Music is rarely played in the shop and while the girls looked "official" with forms and logo embroidered shirts etc we didn't feel it was justified and felt like a scam. My wife sent them packing.

http://stop.in.th/en/faq.asp

May be of interest

Not unlikely they are fake copyright cops. Look for song copyright cops in Pattaya. I understand that most of those 'raids' are requested by an organization called bsa. I do think that genuine police do these raids at they own accord. BSA only targets companies which are alleged to have large scale copyright infringement. Furthermore these 'raids' have requirements with level of police staff. Not any police officer can tell you to have them take a look at your computer.

Apparently this raid properly set up. Odd amount of effort for one single license infringement.

Maybe somebody doesn't like you very much.

......sounds like the typical 'locals want to get rid of the better (?) foreign competitors'.....

...someone on the inside of your friend's organization surely involved.....

...and the competition must know everything about his business by now...including his client base....etc....

...be better...you will be destroyed...sooner or later...one way or another....

Silly question but why would anyone want pirated software? Yes I know it is cheap compared to the real stuff but it is also very problematic as well as much of it is infected with viruses and malware.

You can buy a license for the number of users which is more economical than buying a separate license for each machine.

I agree that this sounds as if it were genned up by someone with a grudge against the friend of the OP.

Software raid is pretty common and real. Its not like the music raid where in the past it was thugs from the company. I know a handful of people who's company got raided, they all paid a heavy fined and bought genuine copies. Don't think your friend will need to go to court, and quite frankly he won't win, so just settle direct with the company. Most of the time the raid happeneds because of disgruntle workers. Microsoft Windows/Office raid is the most common, follow by 3D Drawing softwares. So your friend will just have to suck it up and pay the fine.

If it was just ONE application, i would go to court. Most likely will be thrown out by the judge, as a waste of courts time.

In a country where copies are sold as original, would be too easy to defend yourself, by claiming was purchased at original price from Tuk Com or any IT mall and being only ONE, is makes perfect sense

Give them nothing and get him to call his lawyer.

Set up drama

Not unlikely they are fake copyright cops. Look for song copyright cops in Pattaya. I understand that most of those 'raids' are requested by an organization called bsa. I do think that genuine police do these raids at they own accord. BSA only targets companies which are alleged to have large scale copyright infringement. Furthermore these 'raids' have requirements with level of police staff. Not any police officer can tell you to have them take a look at your computer.

Apparently this raid properly set up. Odd amount of effort for one single license infringement.

Maybe they didn't know what amount they might find

You sure this all wasn't a dream....police in Thailand truly concerned about IP rights? Yea, I think it was probably a dream.

Not unlikely they are fake copyright cops. Look for song copyright cops in Pattaya. I understand that most of those 'raids' are requested by an organization called bsa. I do think that genuine police do these raids at they own accord. BSA only targets companies which are alleged to have large scale copyright infringement. Furthermore these 'raids' have requirements with level of police staff. Not any police officer can tell you to have them take a look at your computer.

Apparently this raid properly set up. Odd amount of effort for one single license infringement.

You and your friend are on the Microsoft watch list. Be careful about where you go. They are tracking you by Google maps. Happened before to an Aussie guy. Got caught with one CD and they took his business away.

Silly question but why would anyone want pirated software? Yes I know it is cheap compared to the real stuff but it is also very problematic as well as much of it is infected with viruses and malware.

You can buy a license for the number of users which is more economical than buying a separate license for each machine.

this is just a rumour .spread by the mindless

why would it be problemtaic ,fuil of viruses or malware ?

download it from the manufactuers website like every other paying customer ,activate it yourself if you know how .....if you dont . pay someone who does this for a living .....

ive seen thousands of installations and yet to see what people preach as gospel about virus invested systems