Japanese contractor found using unlicensed software--police
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva, INQ7.net
PHILIPPINE police raided a Japanese firm contracted to build the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway last week after local authorities received a tip that it was using unlicensed software.
Led by a team from the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Anti-Fraud and Commercial Crime Division (PNP-CIDG-AFCCD), local authorities raided the Hazama Corp. offices inside the former Clark Air Base on March 3, 2006.
The raid stemmed from a complaint from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) that Hazama was using unlicensed software.
INQ7.net called up Hazama Corp's office in Makati City but staff said that the matter was "with our lawyer" and declined to comment further.
INQ7.net also tried calling the Japanese company's office in Clark, but was unable to get through.
Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Antonio M. Eugenio Jr. issued the search warrant, which resulted in the seizure of 74 sets of desktop computers loaded with allegedly pirated Microsoft products and 48 PCs with allegedly unlicensed Autodesk software. The seized items including the supposedly unlicensed software were valued at about 15 million pesos.
The raid was part of a government and private sector campaign called Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team. The PNP, BSA, and the National Bureau of Investigation are proponents of this campaign.
The campaign is expected to go after more intellectual property violators in the country, according to the local authorities.
Police Senior Superintendent and chief of the AFCCD Noel delos Reyes said in a statement that the raid "will have a negative effect on Hazama's operations considering that only six computers were not confiscated by us from their offices."
"Considering the amount of the funding for the project, however, I don't see any reason why Hazama's management allowed the use of pirated software in the first place. Thus, any delays that will be experienced by the project should be blamed on the Japanese officers of the firm. If the project was in Japan, I don't think they would have used pirated software," the police official added.
Local authorities are discussing the involvement of the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in a joint advocacy program to remind all foreign firms doing business in this country of the consequences of violating local copyright laws.
Charges against Hazama executives Kunio Kimata and Shinji Sukegawa for alleged copyright violations are being prepared, according to the police. Police are also in contact with the Bureau of Immigration to check on the status of the Japanese executives' stay in the country.
PHILIPPINE police raided a Japanese firm contracted to build the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway last week after local authorities received a tip that it was using unlicensed software.
Led by a team from the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Anti-Fraud and Commercial Crime Division (PNP-CIDG-AFCCD), local authorities raided the Hazama Corp. offices inside the former Clark Air Base on March 3, 2006.
The raid stemmed from a complaint from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) that Hazama was using unlicensed software.
INQ7.net called up Hazama Corp's office in Makati City but staff said that the matter was "with our lawyer" and declined to comment further.
INQ7.net also tried calling the Japanese company's office in Clark, but was unable to get through.
Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Antonio M. Eugenio Jr. issued the search warrant, which resulted in the seizure of 74 sets of desktop computers loaded with allegedly pirated Microsoft products and 48 PCs with allegedly unlicensed Autodesk software. The seized items including the supposedly unlicensed software were valued at about 15 million pesos.
The raid was part of a government and private sector campaign called Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team. The PNP, BSA, and the National Bureau of Investigation are proponents of this campaign.
The campaign is expected to go after more intellectual property violators in the country, according to the local authorities.
Police Senior Superintendent and chief of the AFCCD Noel delos Reyes said in a statement that the raid "will have a negative effect on Hazama's operations considering that only six computers were not confiscated by us from their offices."
"Considering the amount of the funding for the project, however, I don't see any reason why Hazama's management allowed the use of pirated software in the first place. Thus, any delays that will be experienced by the project should be blamed on the Japanese officers of the firm. If the project was in Japan, I don't think they would have used pirated software," the police official added.
Local authorities are discussing the involvement of the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in a joint advocacy program to remind all foreign firms doing business in this country of the consequences of violating local copyright laws.
Charges against Hazama executives Kunio Kimata and Shinji Sukegawa for alleged copyright violations are being prepared, according to the police. Police are also in contact with the Bureau of Immigration to check on the status of the Japanese executives' stay in the country.
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