By IANS,
New Delhi : In its bid to clamp down on rampant software piracy, Microsoft Tuesday announced a global initiative under the banner of ‘Global Anti-Piracy Awareness Day’ that will include educating consumers as well as enforcing legal action.
Even though the initiative was rolled out in 49 countries, Microsoft’s director of intellectual property in Australia told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper that the Redmond-based software giant would not be able to solve the problem fully ever.
“Are we able to solve absolutely every problem? No… there are some people who will always not want to pay for something and there are always people who will want to exploit,” she said in an interview to the Australian newspaper.
The programme, launched in 49 countries spanning six continents, aims to combat the trade of pirated and counterfeit software.
The initiative includes intellectual property awareness campaigns, engagements with partner businesses, educational forums, local law enforcement training, and legal actions against alleged software counterfeiters and pirates.
“Software piracy and counterfeiting is a sophisticated global trade and Microsoft is committed to working with industry partners in India and around the world to stay a step ahead of this criminal industry,” said Vipul Sant, director – original software initiative, Microsoft India.
For the India chapter, the company has tied up with the Kolkata-based Computer Association of Eastern India (COMPASS) and the Guwahati-based North East Computer Traders Association (NECTA) to educate members on the pitfalls and risks of piracy.
“Sustained industry efforts have helped reduce software piracy in India by four percentage points in as many years and we are committed to continuing on this path and working closely with the government, law enforcement agencies and our customer and partner communities to protect legitimate businesses from this illegal trade,” Sant added.
As part of its enforcement measures, Microsoft has taken 15 civil enforcement actions against resellers indulging in hard-disk loading case, involving Microsoft Windows and Office.