In a demonstration of the government’s resolve to curb the menace of piracy, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has initiated a crackdown on corporate users of unlicensed computer software.
Acting on a complaint, the FIA this week raided a large pharmaceutical company with offices in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The company has been accused of using pirated software, in other words, unlicensed software.
The production, sale, copy, purchase or usage of unlicensed software is an offence, punishable under Section 66 of Chapter XIV of the Copyright Ordinance 1962 and can lead to criminal prosecution for violation of the law.
The FIA raid resulted in the confiscation of computers loaded with unlicensed software, including Microsoft® Windows and Microsoft Office. The use of unlicensed software by a large company of this nature reflects the scale to which the issue of software piracy has proliferated into penetrated the country.
Pakistan remains a haven for software piracy. According to a study conducted by the IDC for the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the leading global organization that is the voice of the global commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace, released on May 2011, the rate of software piracy in Pakistan was 84% during the past year. As a result, the country is now amongst those with one of the highest piracy rates in the world. This has adversely affected the competitive image of the country among IT investors.
Kamal Ahmed, Country Manager Microsoft Pakistan remarked, “Software piracy is a significant threat locally and we as a nation need to take concrete steps to curb it. It is unacceptable when profitable commercial organizations indulge in software piracy with complete disregard to the law, often in a manner which gives them an unfair cost advantage over Pakistan companies with licensed software. Promoting a culture that respects IPR, in software and other industries, will attract greater foreign investment in our economy and also provide an incentive to local entrepreneurs to explore new ideas.”
According to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), conducted for BSA, the country’s IT competitiveness ranking has declined to 62nd in the world, which is behind other regional countries like India and Sri Lanka. Most importantly, the unchecked trade of pirated software in the country is exposing unsuspecting software users to the hazards of malware, viruses and other online scams.
Good. Thank God I use linux :)
bravo… Linux Mint user here :)
The average government office has more pirated software…
Why only a pharmaceutical company ? If this was on large scale against many unlincensed softwares business users then we can there were no personal motives of corrupt FIA officials or Government, otherwise they found only one pharmaceutical company in twin cities? This is fishy..
Was it owned by some PML(N) MNA from Rawalpindi?
it could be the reason………
+100 :)
i bet FIA would also be using pirated windoes or atleat pirated microsoft office.
Windows 7 is great, and worth every penny, so atleast corporations should not go for the pirated softwares, atleast not windows, imagine a world without windows.
The place where I bought my PC were selling pirated copies of Windows 7. They are partners with Intel too though, they have a certificate and everything. Why doesn’t anyone stop ’em? They are the one’s who should be stopped first!
Good step. I agree with Asad. Atleast corporations should not be using pirated softwares.
This pharma company might not have given zardari tax , thats why they are the only victim !!!
+1 :)
100% agree
This is targeted raid…must be with some anonymous complaint… Govt. itself is using pirated software all over… School/College/University labs are fuel by these pirated software. If govt is not interested in paying billions of dollars they why not start using opensource? Corporations and governments all over the world are adopting the opensource, thus avoiding the piracy as well as saving tax payers money.
Why not hire professionals and build one OS for Govt. institutes including schools, colleges and universities. Otherwise pay the damn license fee.
Our company(800+) uses licensed MS product. to our surprise, we got a letter from MicroSoft threatening us with raids unless we buy their licenses :)
I wrote back to them asking for an explanation and they didnt bother to respond back!! excellent customer service MS Pakisan. Cant wait for google to kick their asses out ;)
Safdar, for which company do you work for?
He works for Naan Channey wala !!!
FIA uses non pirated software?
Working in a goverment sector, How much you guys think I should try to change softwares on all of our offices ? Is it worst ? will there be more of this stuff ?
I think all of people comments here as well as authors and admin of propakistani used illegal software /Windows :P am toooo
We are using legit software, (open source or else paid) on local and remote servers :-)
Wow! Linux rocks!
I think FIA is one of the big Pirate users, itself.
One needs laws and rules for eliminating such practice, but where we find these things(rules and regulations)in pakistan??? i don’t think it is possible to stop such a vast business of illegaal softwares/sharings/cds.
We already have laws. We already have regulations (else they would not be able to raid the company). We just have inconsistent implementation.
Greedy FIA always after money what will happen you all know this is our Pakistan pyara Pakistan they will fullfil their need that is Money and then the same softwares will be running on the same locations. LOL
Pakistan Zinda Baad.