Bangkok--7 Jul--Vero PR Thai Police On Pace for Record Year Against Software Piracy The Economic and Technological Crime Suppression Division (ECOTEC) announced today that their efforts to protect the intellectual property rights of software developers have resulted in 30 companies standing accused of illegal software infringement worth a combined 100 million baht since January, 2008. “Crossing the 100 million baht threshold is a significant achievement and we congratulate the ECOTEC team for their diligent efforts to reduce software piracy,” said Ms. Siripat Patrangul, spokesperson, the Business Software Alliance (BSA). “We look forward to continued success in protecting the intellectual property of software developers.” Pol. Col. Sarayut Pultunya, ECOTEC Deputy Commander, said that ECOTEC will continue working closely with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) to coordinate the flow of information on infringing activity “Reaching the 100 million baht threshold demonstrates that we are working hard to track down companies that are violating Thailand’s copyright laws, but we have much more work to do to stamp out software piracy,” added the Deputy Commander. Before the end of the year ECOTEC planned to conduct raids all over Thailand, with dozens of companies short listed for such raids. According to the copyright laws of Thailand, executives of companies found running pirated software are subject to a fine of 100,000 - 800,000 baht, or a jail term of 6 months - four years, or both.Mr. Tarun Sawney, BSA’s Director — Anti Piracy, Asia, revealed that the BSA, working very closely with ECOTEC, has achieved notable successes in cracking down on companies using illegal software in the workplace. “The BSA Hotline campaign (call toll-free 1 800 291 005 and 02 711 6193 or www.bsa.org) has led to a solid response from the public with phone-in leads between January and June 2008. After establishing the reports as accurate we passed the information to police who successfully raided the infringing companies. BSA appreciates ECOTEC’s good work and fully supports their resolve to reduce software piracy in Thailand.” said Mr. Sawney. Added Siripat Patrangul, “Apart from supporting government action to stamp out software piracy in corporations, the BSA will continue to educate and advise companies of the risks of illegal software, and raise awareness of its impact on the software industry as well as the wider economy. In a joint effort with the public and private sector, a number of public seminars on proper software asset management (SAM) have been held, with the ultimate aim of uplifting the future potential of the IT industry in Thailand.” The latest global software piracy study commissioned by the BSA from analyst IDC indicates that the illegal PC software rate in Thailand fell by 2% to 78%, while the average of Asia Pacific region is 59%. An IDC economic impact study released this year found that reducing PC software piracy in Thailand by ten percentage points in four years could create 2,100 new jobs, 30 billion baht in economic growth and 1.65 billion baht in tax revenues above current projections. About BSA The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA worldwide members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CNC Software/Mastercam, Corel, McAfee, Microsoft, Monotype Imaging, PTC, Quark, Quest Software, Siemens PLM Software, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec and The MathWorks. BSA regional members in Asia include Agilent Technologies, Altium, Frontline PCB Solutions - An Orbotech Valor Company, INUS Technology, Mindjet, Minitab, SPSS, Tekla and Trend Micro. BSA local affiliates include Thai Software Enterprise.