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.