Cops pursue copyright probes

Cops pursue copyright probes

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Police handed over several software piracy case files
to the prosecutor's office on Thursday, a few months after
gathering evidence and questioning witnesses.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said police also
handed over six suspects identified as Eddy Luisa, Johan Budiman
alias Ayong, Hoiji Huat, Nyanto Trisno Sutrisno, Rudy Satriadi,
and Willy Luisa.

"It is now up to the prosecutors when the suspects will be
brought to court as they have declared the case files complete,"
he told The Jakarta Post.

The six suspects were arrested together with 33,418 pirated
CDs during raids on Feb. 24, 25, and 28 at Ratu Plaza in Central
Jakarta, Ambassador Mall in South Jakarta, and Mangga Dua Mall in
West Jakarta. The six were allegedly caught selling pirated CDs,
including unlicensed software of Adobe, Autodesk, Macromedia,
Microsoft, and Symantec products.

All are charged under Article 72 of the Law No. 19/2002 on
copyright with a maximum punishment of five years and a fine of
up to Rp 500 million.

Director of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) Asia chapter
Tarun Sawney welcomed the news, saying it showed the government's
commitment to enforcing the copyright law.

"We are optimistic that the prosecutors will do their best in
prosecuting these cases and that the judges will find the
suspects guilty of the charges," he said in a statement on
Thursday.

BSA is an organization dedicated stamping out software piracy
and represents companies in the software industry.

Last year, several pirated software retailers operating in
Harco Mall and Mangga Dua Mall, both in West Jakarta, were also
brought to the Central Jakarta Court and all the suspects were
sentenced to one-year terms imprisonment.

According to the 2005 report by the International Data
Corporation (IDC), 87 percent of software installed in computers
in Indonesia in 2004 had been pirated.

Indonesia ranks fifth in the world and third in Asia in terms
of software piracy.

Software companies operating in Indonesia suffers estimated
losses of US$183 million last year because of piracy, the report
said.