KL to crush trade piracy with month-long campaign

KL to crush trade piracy with month-long campaign

M. Jegathesan, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia has intensified efforts to smash trade piracy by conducting surprise raids in a bid to comply with World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations, officials say.

"We are serious in crushing these illegal activities which taint the image of the country," said Roslan Mahayuddin, enforcement manager with the domestic trade and consumers affairs ministry.

Roslan told AFP that some 700 officers were being deployed in a month-long campaign codenamed "Operation Genuine", which began on Sept. 2 as part of Malaysia's commitment to the WTO.

"We have recruited additional officers to boost our operation," he said, adding the police would be roped in during raids.

Enforcement officers raided three local companies -- a mould- making firm, an engineering company and a human resource consultancy firm -- in the first week and discovered they were using pirated software.

Officials seized 31 computers and pirated software worth 280,000 ringgit (US$73,684) in the raid, but no arrest was made, Roslan said.

One enforcement officer, requesting anonymity, told AFP that once investigations were completed, legal action would be taken against the directors and the three companies.

If found guilty, the company and its senior management concerned can be fined up to 10,000 ringgit for every infringement copy and/or imprisoned up to five years.

The officer said surprise raids may follow on 901 companies nationwide during the month-long operation. "We have received a tip-off that they are using pirated software."

Roslan said Malaysian courts had previously only fined offenders.

Business Software Alliance (BSA), a world software watchdog, on Friday said that with a software piracy rate of 70 percent, the industry in Malaysia lost nearly 360 million ringgit in retail revenue in 2001.

Besides targeting firms, enforcement officers are also raiding factories, shopping complexes and peddlers of illegal music and movie CDs and VCDs, he said.

Roslan said the department knew who the hardcore peddlers were and would launch strikes on them.

"We will push for jail sentences for these people. Fines alone have failed to deter their illegal activities," he said.

Abdul Rosik, a trade officer leading the piracy war against CDs and VCDs, said 50 raids were being conducted daily.

Officers faced physical threats during the raids, he said.

"In one incident, just out of Kuala Lumpur Thursday, a group of 30 people surrounded my officers who had seized the pirated copies. They had to return the VCDs to the traders fearing their safety," he said.

Roslan said the department still had a long way to eradicate piracy and counterfeit goods.

"We still find these products in the open market," he said.

On Wednesday, officers seized 6,000 VCDs and DVDs at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport which were due to be exported to England, Brunei and the Philippines.

In another operation, officers removed 7,000 VCDs and CDs from a factory just outside Kuala Lumpur. They also seized a compact disc stamper. Some of the pirated VCDs and CDs were of top local singer Siti Nurhaliza and Japanese cartoons, the New Straits Times said Thursday.

Domestic trade minister Muhyiddin Yassin recently described piracy as a "cancer" and said enforcement officers would work with BSA to raid firms.