Pirated CD-ROMs seized in Mangga Dua crackdown
JAKARTA (JP): Acting on a tip-off, detectives from the National Police have seized 320 items of pirated CD-ROMs from five stores at the city's popular ITC electronic shopping center at Mangga Dua, North Jakarta.
The raid carried out by a team of eight officers from the economic crime unit on Wednesday, was based on complaints filed by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) office for Indonesia, a statement from the Washington-based group said on Thursday.
"I commend the prompt action and commitment of the National Police in acting swiftly against these retailers of pirated software," BSA vice president for Indonesia Christopher Austin said.
"This combined enforcement action is a reflection of the willingness of the Indonesian government to stamp out the rampant software piracy (here)," he added.
According to Andre Wisnu, a BSA staff-member, the police targeted 10 stores at the ITC shopping center who allegedly sold pirated items.
"Upon our arrival at the site, half of the targeted places apparently closed their businesses," said Andre, who took part in the operation.
Giving no details of the shops and the fate of the owners, BSA stated that these retail stores had infringed copyright of its member companies and violated the existing Indonesian Copyright Law No. 12/1997, which -- according to Article 44 -- carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment and or a Rp 100 million fine.
In one of its latest raids, the National Police detectives confiscated 100,000 pirated video compact discs, laser discs, audio compact discs and digital video discs, in a raid on a nearby shopping plaza in the Glodok commercial district in April.
Although the police have intensified operations against pirated items of intellectual property, the stores and streets of the capital are seeing an increasing number of such products on the market as they are considerably cheaper than the originals.
Pirated video discs, for example, are sold here for between Rp 10,000 and Rp 17,500 each, compared to more than Rp 50,000 for an original.
The alluringly cheap prices do not only lure local customers, but expatriates and foreign tourists as well.
A similar situation can also be found in many big cities in the region.
According to a recent study conducted by BSA, an estimated 84 percent of the software used in Southeast Asia is illegal.
In attempts to increase public awareness of intellectual property rights, the BSA office in Jakarta opened a hotline in 1995 (telephone number 522 2158), which offers a reward of up to Rp 70 million to "informants who report and assist the BSA in securing a successful prosecution against retailers of illegal software and users of pirated software".
To date, more than 600 reports have been lodged by the hotline which have been followed up by police raids, BSA staffer Andre said. (bsr)