BSA sees decline in RP software piracy

A crackdown on software pirates and the government's public awareness campaign on software piracy has limited illegal use of computer software in the country to 71 percent, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said Tuesday.

Tarun Sawney, BSA’s director of anti-piracy for Asia, said they expect the figure to go down further due to closer cooperation between the BSA and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

Sawney told IPO director general Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. that continuing raids of IP inter-agencies, such as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Optical Media Board (OMB), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are contributing to the decline of software piracy.

He said more than P19 million worth of software have been seized since the crackdown of the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy team started in September.

The BSA , meanwhile, urged the IPO and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to monitor the use of pirated software among call centers and other industry associations. -- ABS CBN NEWS

NBI raids computer shops for using pirated software

The Philippine Star

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) served three search warrants and confiscated 32 computer sets from two computer shops in Metro Manila for using pirated computer software on Friday.

Some 20 agents of the NBI-Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD), raided the Jacctags Computer Service, located at Unit 90-C and Unit 90-D Anonas Street, East Kamias, Aurora, Quezon City; and the Archisoft PC-911 Sales and Service at the second level of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) North Mall, Rizal Avenue Extension, Gracerpark, Caloocan City.

NBI agents seized 29 computers and 19 compact discs containing illegal Microsoft software programs from the two Jacctags stores while three computers were taken from PC-911 store. The total cost of the items reached P1.07 million.

The NBI would file copyright infringement and unfair competition charges against the owners of the establishments.

NBI-IPRD head agent Jose Justo Yap said the raid was in compliance with the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team‘s (PAPT) campaign against software piracy which started Sept. 16.

In 2004, software piracy in the Philippines was pegged at 71 percent. Microsoft alone has reportedly lost P3.7 billion to piracy.

The NBI agents served the search warrants issued by Executive Judge Antonio Eugenio Jr., of the Manila City Regional Trial Court Branch 24, at around noontime on Friday. The warrants were based on the complaint of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an organization dedicated to combating software piracy.

Yap said they conducted a surveillance on the subjects upon receiving a complaint from the BSA that the establishments were using pirated software. After confirming their suspicion, they immediately secured the necessary warrants.

In an earlier raid on computer shops last Nov. 24, the NBI also seized 286 computers worth P10 million from three branches of a popular chain of Internet cafes located in shopping malls in the metropolis.

Yap said the computer units of at least three branches of Excel, owned by Expressions Center for Learning (ECL), reportedly contained unauthorized reproductions or copies of unlicensed Microsoft software programs. — Evelyn Macairan

CICT appoints new head to manage the '.ph' spat

By Alexander F. Villafania INQ7.net

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) has appointed a new director to oversee the still ongoing “.ph” spat.CICT Deputy Commissioner Lorenzo Formoso III, appointed by the Office of the President to his post last month, has been assigned to lead the meetings on the .ph redelegation proceedings.

Formoso takes over the responsibility from Commissioner Damien Domingo Mapa, who is currently busy with several other CICT concerns that includes membership in the congressional technical working group on the automated election proposal.

Formoso was formerly the chief legal and compliance officer of the mobile services operator Chikka.

CICT Chairperson Virgilio Peña told reporters that Formoso has an extensive legal background in the IT industry, which made him a prime choice to head the .ph discussions.

“So far, we’re still discussing with group members of the .ph debate on the re-delegation. We don’t need to start from scratch since Formoso is already updated on the issue,” Peña said.

Peña said that he discussed re-delegation of the .ph top-level domain with Paul Twomey, president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers” (ICANN). Twomey was open to the possibility of the re-delegation but recommended that its stakeholders find a “less-disruptive” way of transferring power.

“It means we have ascertain .ph clients are not happy with the management of the domain and then we could proceed to ask ICANN to re-delegate it. That is why we’re looking at ways to bring this to a win-win-win situation for the current .ph administrator, the government and the local Internet users,” Peña said.

The .ph domain name is currently administered by DotPH owned by Joel Disini. DotPH acts as both administrator and registrar of .ph, an arrangement questioned by many Internet users who say that these two responsibilities should be split into two and administered accordingly.

NBI raids 3 Internet cafes, seizes P10 M in computers

By RIZAL S. OBANIL, Manila Bulletin

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) conducted simultaneous raids on three Internet cafes, leading to the seizure of some P10 million worth of computers recently in Manila, Mandaluyong, and Quezon City.

Raided were the branches of Expressions Center for Learning or Excel located at the 4th floor of SM Manila, Arroceros St., Manila; 2nd Floor, EDSA Central Pavilion Mall, Edsa Central Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong City; and at the Food Court on the basement of Ali Mall, Araneta Center in Cubao.

The NBI Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD), headed by lawyer Jose Justo Yap, said the raids were conducted at around 12 noon of Thursday last week. Government agents confiscated 286 desktop computers loaded with fake soft-ware.

Yap said the raids were conducted following the end of a moratorium implemented by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) last Sept. 16.

He said this was the first time the NBI division conducted raids on Internet cafes after Microsoft, a member company of BSA, filed a complaint. He added that the three establishments raided were the biggest of the 44 branches which Excel has in the country.

There are 20 Excel Internet cafes located in Metro Manila while the remaining 24 branches are located in nearby provinces.

Yap said the computer software industry loses some P3.7 billion annually to piracy. He said this is because 71 percent of computer users in the country use pirated soft-ware.

Yap clarified that they have not conducted raids on Internet cafes before and that the simultaneous raids should serve as a warning to other shops.

Yap said the NBI raiders also confiscated software for Windows XP, Windows 98, Micro-soft Office, Windows Special Edition and Microsoft 2002 from the said establishments. Charges for violationg the Intellectual Property Rights Code, particularly for use of unlicensed software will be slapped against the owner of the establishments.