HA NOI — Police seized illegal software in a surprise raid on Thursday at Hai Anh Technical Equipment and Informatics Co Ltd at 105 Le Thanh Nghi Street in Ha Noi.

Officers from the Ministry of Public Security were joined by inspectors from the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism to find found 10 computers for sale and six others in use by company staff, each installed with illegal copies of popular software.

According to inspectors, total value of the pirated software was estimated at around VND1 billion (approximately US$62,500).

This was the 11th such raid carried out this year, demonstrating Government determination to reduce the rate of software piracy in Viet Nam and abide by international commitments to protect intellectual property rights, said Tran Van Minh of the press department under the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism

“Besides retailers, suppliers are also among the primary subjects of investigations because they play a vital role in the battle against software piracy. If suppliers abide strictly by intellectual property rights and do not install illegal software on computers for end-users, customers will gradually change their minds and will respect software copyrights,” said Minh.

Based on the results of the raid, Hai Anh Technical Equipment & Informatics Co Ltd will be fined, pursuant to the Law on Intellectual Property and Decree No 56/2006 NDD-CP of the Government on handling administrative violations in the areas of culture and information, promulgated on June 6, 2006. — VNS