Five companies yesterday joined the local branch of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) to pool resources and increase pressure on companies and institutions using unauthorized software, taking the organization's membership to 23.
The five new members are Germany's SAP and US-based SolidWorks Corp, Sybase Inc, UGS PLM Solutions and Veritas Software Corp.
"Our PowerBuilder software has been pirated and that is one reason we're taking part in the BSA," said Anita Huang, a spokeswoman for Sybase, referring to one of her company's products for companies developing mobile digital organizers.
"Being a part of a larger group we can educate the public more effectively and go after violators. We can also improve the image of Taiwan and Taiwanese businesses," she said.
Another new member agreed.
"Our customers use our software to make forecasts for manufacturing needs, but we have found recently that some companies have been cutting costs by using pirated software," said Chiang Min-kuan (
"By taking part in a global organization like BSA, we can better fight against this problem. Until now we have been passive, now we want to take more action," Chiang said.
The nation's software piracy rate fell from 53 percent in 2001 to 43 percent in 2002, according to BSA statistics. The global average is 39 percent.
Last year's figures are scheduled for release in May, said Sung Hong-ti (
Sung is optimistic about an improvement in the local piracy rate due to ongoing education and promotion campaigns.
"The last time was so good that we can't expect such a big drop this time, but the government is still working very hard on this issue and co-operating very well with us, so we are optimistic," she said. "But it's like losing weight. The first 20 kilos drop off easily, then it gets more difficult."
To raise awareness about the problem of illegal software, the alliance has enlisted the help of cartoon character Dilbert.
By logging onto the BSA's Web site, software engineers can view cartoon strips with an anti-piracy theme and chat with each other.
"We chose a character we thought would appeal to engineers," Sung said.
The BSA is also planning events to coincide with Global Intellectual Property Rights Day on Apr. 26, she said.
In addition to mass media advertising, the government's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) org-anizes on-campus programs to educate students that they should use only legal software, IPO deputy director-general Jack Lu (盧文祥) said yesterday.
The IPO also trains judges, prosecutors and police officers to spot pirated software, and encourages them to take part in the education campaigns, Lu said.
"We had the highest drop in the piracy rate announced last year -- 10 percentage points -- so we do not expect we can drop so much this time, but we are sure we will see progress," he said.
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