A copy of pirated software is worth $1,000,000?? - This might be the price you have to pay.

Below are a few of the cases which involves incorrect software usage

Walkman Maker Pay for Copyright Infringement (L)
July 7, 2000 - Early this year, LCA received a tip-off about the unauthorized use of Microsoft software at the premises of a Defendant , a company manufacturing walkman and Hi-fi products, on as many as 25 PCs. Upon receiving the warning letter from Microsoft, the Defendant was able to produce purchase evidence of some software programs but admitted that they have insufficient licenses to cover all the software in use. As a result of the settlement, the Defendant agrees to purchase software to fully legalize its computer system, pays US$2,564 as costs and damages, and provides an undertaking to never infringe Microsoft copyrights in the future.

Hong Kong Customs First Crackdown on Online Sale of Pirate Software (L)
June 28, 2000 - On June 22, 2000, the Internet Task Force of Hong Kong Customs conducted the first raid in Hong Kong against an internet site found to be offering pirate software for sale. The busted pirate website was alleged to have been operating its business by receiving online orders from buyers and delivering the orders through a legitimate delivery company. Software programs, such as Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Project 2000 and Symantec pcAnywhere were sold at HK$20 per copy. It is believed that the pirate had received at least 300 orders prior to the action by Customs. A test purchase made by Customs with the illegal site eventually led to the track down of the pirates. As a result of the raid, two suspects were arrested and seizures were made, which included three computer servers, two computers, 76 pirated discs and other computer equipment. The total seizure was worth approximately HK$50,000.

25-Year-Old Shop Owner Cum Sale Assistant Convicted for Selling 5,200 Pirated CD-ROMs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at the North Kowloon Magistrate Court on the April 20, 2000, a defendant was found guilty for offering for sale of infringing copies of copyrighted works for the purpose of trade and business without the license of the copyright owner. The defendant was arrested by the customs officers in an anti piracy operation conducted at Sim City, Mongkok on February 3, 1999. During the operation, the defendant argued that he was only the sales assistant in the shop and has no knowledge about any infringing CD-ROMs. When a large quantity of illegal CD-ROMs were found in the premises and the defendant was cautioned by the enforcement officials, he eventually admitted that he owned these infringing articles. Besides the illegal CD-ROMs, the customs officers also confiscated empty CD box, inlaid card and price quotation found at the shop. The Magistrate sentenced the defendant to 4 months imprisonment.

19-Year-Old Salesgirls Sentenced to Four months Imprisonment for Selling 162 illegal CD-ROMs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at the Eastern Magistrate Court on April 6 and 7, 2000, Two defendants , both age 19, pleaded guilty to the offense of offering for sale of infringing copies of copyright works without the license of copyright owner. The Magistrate imposed a four months prison sentence on both Defendants. A test buy operation was conducted by the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau's officers of the HKCEn Department on February 11, 1999, on two shops located at Wanchai Computer City, where the defendants worked as salesgirls. The officers raided the shops and seized 162 unauthorized CD-ROMs. Infringing articles such as inlaid card, folder, software name list and plastic bags were also confiscated as these were believed to be used for packaging purposes.

Proprietor and Dispatchers of Storage Center Get Prison Sentence for the Supply of Illegal CD-ROMs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at the Eastern Magistrate Court on April 6 and 7, 2000, Three defendants were found guilty for the offence of offering for sale of infringing copies of copyrighted works for the purpose of trade or business without the license of the copyright owner. Acting on information, on February 11, 2000, the HK Customs & Excise (HKCE) officers raided a storage center in the Lee Wing Building of Wan Chai, which was believed to be the source of supplying counterfeit CD-ROMs. Over 6,600 of pirated CD-ROMS were seized in this operation together with some incriminating documents found in the premises such as orders received from customers. The Proprietor (Defendant 1) , admitted that he rented the premises for storing illegal CD-ROMs and receiving orders from retail shops in Wan Chai Computer Center. He also confirmed that Defendant 2 and Defendant 3 were both employed by him as dispatchers for delivering illegal CD-ROMs to the customers. The customs officers arrested the three of them and confiscated all infringing articles worth approximately HK$331,250. Defendant 1 was sentenced to 6 months in prison whereas Defendant 2 and Defendant 3 were given a 4 months prison sentence each.

Shop Assistant Sentenced to Jail for Selling Infringement Software (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearings conducted at Eastern Magistrates Court on April 3, 2000, a Defendant , age 42, was convicted for the offence of offering for sale of infringing copies of copyrighted works. The Court sentenced the Defendant to Four months imprisonment. A raid was conducted by HK Customs & Excise at King Park Lane, North Point, on August 5, 1999, where the defendant worked as a sale assistant. The officials seized 1,394 illegal CD-ROMs containing counterfeit Microsoft software and other companies' software.

Shop Owners Convicted and Jailed for Selling 1,054 Pirated CD-ROMs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at the Fanling Magistrate Court on April 3, 2000, Defendant 1, age 22, and Defendant 2 , age 31, were sentenced to three months imprisonment for the offense of offering for sale of infringing copies of copyrighted works. Both Defendants were the owners of a CD-ROM shop located at Lung Fung Gardens Shopping Arcade in New Territory and were arrested in an anti piracy operation conducted by the officers of the Copyright Investigation Division of C&E Department on March 3, 1999, resulting in the seizure of 1,054 illegal CD-ROMs. Both defendants admitted that they were the proprietors of the shop and were conducting the business for selling pirated CD-ROMs in the premises for only a month.

Six months Prison Sentence for Shop Assistant Convicted for Selling Pirated CD-ROMs and MCDs (L)
June 18, 2000 - On April 13, 2000, a Defendant , age 47, pleaded guilty in the Tsuen Wan Magistrates Court and was convicted for the offense of offering for sale of infringing copies of copyrighted works and was sentenced by the Magistrate to 6 months in prison. The Defendant worked as a sale person in a retail shop located at Lik Shang Shopping Arcade, a notorious place for selling infringing music CDs and computer software. The HK Customs & Excise raided the shop on July 13, 1999, where 1,500 pirated CD-ROMs and 1,100 illegal MCDs were seized. The Defendant admitted that the seizures were infringing articles and was selling them at a price of HK$30 each.

Prison Sentence for Shop Proprietor Convicted for Selling illegal VCDs, MCDs and CD-ROMs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at the Western Magistrate Court on April 6, 2000, a Defendant , age 46, was found guilty for the offence of possessing and selling infringing copies of copyrighted works. The Defendant was the owner of the shop located at MRT Shopping Arcade at Des Voeux Raod, West Hong Kong. The Customs officers raided the shop on February 22, 1999, and seized 3,385 infringing disks. 550 were copies of counterfeit Microsoft software and the rest were VCDs and MCDs. The Defendant pleaded guilty in the court and was sentenced to four months imprisonment.

Foreign Shop Owner Convicted for Selling illegal CD-ROMs, VCDs and MCDs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at the Eastern Magistrate Court on April 14, 2000, a Defendant , age 47, a British national pleaded guilty to the Magistrate for selling infringing copies of copyright works and was convicted to six months imprisonment. The police in Shau Kei Wan raided the Defendant’s shop on March 8, 1999, after a test purchase was carried out by a customs officer. The Defendant was arrested for offering to sell two sets of suspected infringing VCDs to the officer disguised as a customer. The enforcement officials seized all infringing disks which consist of 3,200 VCDs, 1,440 MCDs and 885 CD-ROMs from the shop premises. Some other related items such as plastic bag, price list, inlaid card and a cash sum of HK$980 suspected to be the sale proceeds of the infringing articles were also confiscated.

Shop Proprietor And 18 Years Old Sale Assistant Sentenced To Jail For Selling Illegal CD-ROMs, VCDs and MCDs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at San Po Kong Magistrate Court on April 28, 2000, Defendant 1 (age 27) and Defendant 2 (age 18) were convicted for offering for sale of infringing copyright works. Acted upon a search warrant, the Tuen Mun enforcement officials entered a shop located at U-Town Shopping Arcade and found over 4,000 illegal CD-ROMs, 140 VCDs and 473 MCDs. During the search, Defendant 2 argued that she was only helping her friend, Defendant 1 , look after his business while Defendant 1 was out for some other matters. Nevertheless, both Defendants were arrested and prosecuted in the court. Defendant 1 was found guilty and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment whereas Defendant 2 was a given a one month prison sentence.

Middle Age Proprietor Sentenced to Jail for possessing 9,368 pirated disks (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at North Kowloon Magistrate Court on April 17, 2000, a Defendant , age 45, pleaded guilty to the offense of possessing and offering for sale of illegal CD-ROMs, VCDs and MCDs. Based on a search warrant granted by the court, the customs officers raided a shop on March 11, 1999, located at Fuk Wa Street , Shamshuipo with a view to search for infringing products. 9,368 infringing articles were found and seized by the officials. The Defendant admitted that he was the proprietor of the shop and owned the infringing goods with intention for selling to the customers. The Defendant was sentenced to six months imprisonment.

28-Year-Old Sale Assistant Gets Prison Sentence for selling pirated VCDs and CD-ROMs (L)
June 18, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at Eastern Magistrate Court, a Defendant , pleaded guilty to the offense for selling infringing copyrighted work. The Magistrate sentenced him to eight months imprisonment. During an anti-piracy operation conducted by the Customs officers on July 30, 1999, at Wing Lee Shopping Centre, 2,800 pirated VCDs and CD- ROMs were seized from a shop located at the Shopping Centre where the Defendant worked as a sale assistant. The Defendant admitted that those were infringing products and he was selling them to customers at the price of HK$30 per disk.

Computer Training School to Pay for Copyright Infringement (L)
March 28, 2000 - This month BSA Hong Kong settled with Computer Academy for copyright infringement. Computer Academy (CA), a computer school offering training courses on Adobe, AutoDesk and Microsoft software programs, was reported to be using unauthorized software on as many as forty PCs. A settlement agreement was reached ultimately with CA, pursuant to which it agreed to purchase replacement software worth US$12,821, pay US$3,205 as costs and damages, provide a written undertaking to never infringe BSA members' copyright in the future, and make a statutory declaration to confirm that it is not using any unlicensed software copies belonging to BSA members.

Manufacturer of Electronic Dictionaries Settle with BSA (L)
February 23, 2000This month BSA reached a settlement with Meijin Seiko HK Ltd., a company involved in the manufacture of electronic dictionaries, for copyright infringement. In May last year, a former employee of Meijin Seiko tipped off the BSA hotline that infringing copies of BSA members' software, including those of Corel Draw, AutoCAD, Microsoft Office and Windows were installed on as many as 17 computers at Meijin Seiko's premises. Under the terms of the settlement, Meijin Seiko was required to legalize all its software in use, provide an undertaking to never infringe BSA member's copyright in the future, sign a BSA Code of ethics, and pay the BSA HK$95,000(US$12,179) as costs and damages. As part of the settlement, Meijin Seiko also agreed to issue an apology add about its misconduct in two of the Hong Kong newspapers that have the best circulation.

BSA Talk to Compliance Officers of Hong Kong Government (G)
February 23, 2000 - In a seminar held on January 27, 2000, by the Intellectual Property Department of Hong Kong on "Managing Intellectual Property in the Government", BSA was invited to speak to about 108 Compliance Officers on software asset management. The compliance officers are Department and Bureau staff within the Hong Kong government who assist the Head of Department or Bureau to ensure that the standards and guidelines of managing intellectual property in the government are compliant with. As software management is an ongoing process, it is important to have a contact person who is held accountable to the implementation of policies and procedures in order to maintain compliance. This newly established Compliance Officer scheme of Hong Kong demonstrates the government's commitment in this regard and has certainly provided the private sector with a good model on how to implement good software asset management within organizations.

Three Men Convicted for Manufacturing 40,005 Illegal CD-ROMs (L)
February 23, 2000 - At a hearing conducted at Kwun Tong District Court on December 17, 1999, Defendant Wong (aged 22), Defendant Chau (aged 37) and Defendant Chan (aged 24) all pleaded not guilty to the offence of "possession for the purpose of trade or business of infringing copyright works with a view to committing any act infringing the copyright without the license of the copyright owner". However, the court convicted all defendants. Wong was given a fine of HK$10,000, Chau received an 18-months prison sentence and Chan was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. The three defendants were arrested by the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department during an enforcement action conducted on June 23, 1998, at a manufacturing site in Kwun Tong, resulting in the seizure of 40,005 counterfeit CD-ROMs, consisting of 2,026 Microsoft counterfeit software. The case was heard in the District Court and the trial lasted for 4 weeks.

Hong Kong Secondary Schools Gearing Up for Software Asset Management Practice (O)
February 22, 2000 - The Intellectual Property Department and Education Department of Hong Kong jointly organized a seminar on "Copyright in Education in Hong Kong" on January 12, 2000. Along with other copyright associations, such as IFPI, CASH and SPA, BSA was invited to speak on software asset management to an audience of 400 composed mostly of secondary school principals. The responses from these schoolmasters showed their keen interest in practicing software management within the education institutes. To help them manage the software in use at schools, copies of the BSA Software Management Guide, which provides step-by-step instruction, was available upon request at the seminar.

Hong Kong Customs And Excise Department Calls Upon A Law And Corporate Affairs Representative (O)
January 12, 2000 - On January 10, 1999 Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department called upon Law and Corporate Affairs representative to assist in inspecting CD-ROMs they found in a registered plant in Kwun Tong area suspected of manufacturing infringing Microsoft software products. Upon examining the seized products, Law and Corporate Affairs representative found that they were poor quality CD-ROMs that contain unauthorized traditional Chinese versions of Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. The Customs officers also found on the scene an authorization letter from a publisher in China requesting the replication. The letter does not mention the name of the programs to be replicated but only a code for the purpose of identification. After Law and Corporate Affairs representative confirmed that the requesting entity is not a Microsoft authorized replicator and that the CD-ROMs found containing infringing copies of Microsoft software, the Customs officers confiscated a total of 8,000 pieces of infringing software products which accounted for four-fifth of the quantity specified in this unauthorized order. (Contact: chchla/tomrobe)

Hong Kong Trading Company Paid for Copyright Infringement (L)
January 4, 2000(Business Software Alliance Hong Kong) In December, Business Software Alliance settled with Hong Da China Company Ltd., a company trading in appliances such as washing machines and dish washers, for copyright infringement. In April last year, a former employee of Hong Da reported to the Business Software Alliance hotline that unauthorized copies of software, including Symantec Norton AntiVirus and various Microsoft products, were run on as many as twenty PCs and two servers at Hong Da's premises. Upon receiving Business Software Alliance's warning letter, Hong Da immediately purchased a substantial quantity of software to legalize its system but refused to pay for past infringement. Business Software Alliance was forced to issue proceedings against Hong Da, which eventually approached Business Software Alliance for an out of court settlement. The case was ultimately settled with Hong Da providing a Deed of Undertaking to never infringe Business Software Alliance members' copyright in the future, signing a Business Software Alliance Code of Ethics, and paying the Business Software Alliance HK$100,000 (US$12,821) as costs and damages. In addition, the director of Hong Da also made a statutory declaration to confirm that the company is not using any unlicensed copies of the software belonging to Business Software Alliance members.

Notice to Landlords of Retail Shops Selling Pirated Microsoft Software (O)
January 4, 2000 - Law and Corporate Affairs this month sent a letter to landlords of shops at the two most notorious computer shopping arcades in Hong Kong known for selling unauthorized Microsoft software. The letter to the landlords aims to put them on notice of the infringing activities going on at their premises and to invite them to work with Microsoft to stop the illegal conduct of their tenants. These illegal activities were identified during the regular surveys we run at various shopping arcades. In addition to notifying the tenant's landlords, we have criminal complaints to the enforcement authority of Hong Kong on the basis of the same information.

Retailers in Mongkok Computer Centers Convicted and Sentenced to Jail for Selling Pirated CD-ROMs (L)
January 3, 2000 - On the 18th and 19th of March, two shop owners, Tsang Kwan Chuen (age 38) and Defendant Koo (age 23), pleaded guilty in the North Kowloon Magistrates Court and were convicted for the offense of offering and possessing infringing copies of copyrighted works without the license of the copyright owner. The defendants were sentenced to jail for 6 months and 3 months, respectively. The HK Customs & Excise seized a total of 823 illegal CD-ROMs from the defendants shops in Mongkok Computer Center at Shamshuipo, a notorious place for selling pirated CD-ROMs, during a raid in May and July 1998.

Shop Proprietor Sentenced to Jail in Two Copyright Infringement Cases (L)
January 3, 2000 - At a hearings conducted at Kwun Tong Magistrates Court on November 23rd 1999, Defendant Tze, age 42, was convicted for the offence of offering to sell infringing copies of copyrighted works without the license of the copyright owner. The defendant was sentenced by the Court to eight months imprisonment. A raid was conducted by HK Customs & Excise at 7th Floor of 30 Hing Wah Street in Shamshuipo which resulted in the seizure of 1,650 illegal CD-ROMs containing counterfeit Microsoft and other companies' software. Tze was also charged in another case for a similar offense and was sentenced to six months imprisonment in relation to the sale of 3,364 pirated CD-ROMs.

Hong Kong Computer School Pays for Copyright Infringement
BSA settled its copyright infringement case against a computer school in Hong Kong that provides training on the use of a wide variety of software. The case started in February this year when the company was reported to have been operating its business with unauthorized software programs belonging to Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft, and Symantec on as many as 250 computers at four different locations. The process of negotiating a settlement agreement has been unusually difficult because the company, being an authorized training center of some of the BSA members, has attempted to strike side business deals with member companies in lieu of them having to purchase adequate replacement software as part of the settlement. The company was called on this strategy and was ultimately forced to purchase more than HK$750,000 (US$96,154) in replacement software. Under the settlement terms, the company has also agreed to pay HK$250,000 (US$32,052) as costs and damages, issue a joint press release with BSA about the settlement, provide a written undertaking to never infringe BSA members' copyright in the future, and make a statutory declaration to confirm that the company is not using any unlicensed copies of the software belonging to BSA members.

BSA Hong Kong Settles Copyright Infringement Case Against Two Hong Kong Companies
BSA Hong Kong recently settled its end user software piracy claims against two Hong Kong companies. A former employee of each company called the BSA Hotline to report the unauthorized use of BSA members' software on their internal computer systems. Under the terms of the settlement agreements, each company provided an undertaking to never infringe BSA members' software in the future, legalize their software use (which together totaled approximately US$23,000 worth of software programs), and pay costs and damages to the BSA (totaling US$16,700).