Nasscom, BSA facilitate anti—piracy raids in Hyderabad

BANGALORE: Hyderabad Police, with assistance from Nasscom and BSA, have

seized pirated software worth of Rs 77 lakh from 7 locations through anti-piracy

raids. Thirteen people, including senior level employees of the companies, have

been arrested.

The police have recovered around 293 CD’s, 5 hard disks and 7 computers

loaded with pirated software, claims a press release issued by Nasscom. The

raids were a result of several weeks of investigation, following a tip off

received on the NASSCOM / BSA antipiracy hotline. The seized software included

NT server, Adobe Photoshop 5.5 , Auto CAD Rel 14, and Adobe Pagemaker 6.5,

AutoCAD Release 13 along with popular operating systems like Windows 98, Windows

2000 and applications like Office97, Office 2000. The offenders were also

selling compilation CD’s of NASSCOM-BSA member companies.

The latest subjects of police action for copyright infringement were SHAD

Book Store, Compage Computers Pvt. Ltd., Padmaja Electonics Pvt. Ltd., Worldcom

Computers and Mohan Computers Pvt. Ltd., all located in Hyderabad and

Secunderabad areas. In addition to the 5 outlets raided — the stocking place

of Shad Book Store and service station of Compage computers were also raided.

The owner of Shad Book Store had been apprehended for the same offence in

October of 1997. Criminal proceedings are pending against him since, then.

Nasscom president Dewang Mehta said, "These raids are a result of our

commitment to fight use of illegal software. We will take consistent actions

against such pirates who do not intend to legalize and raids will be conducted

again and again till the offenders decide to convert". Mr Mehta further

added, "We expect such actions to check people in using or selling pirated

software. Such actions require public participation, which is very crucial in

our endeavor to fight the cause. The IT industry loses a huge amount every year

in addition to lost jobs and government revenue because of the use of illegal

software. We encourage people to report such acts and illegalities that come to

light on the NASSCOM / BSA anti-piracy hotline"