Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department (“HK Customs”) has arrested three people in a major crackdown on software piracy yesterday prompting the Business Software Alliance of Hong Kong (“BSA”) to acknowledge recently ramped-up efforts by law enforcement authorities to safeguard intellectual property rights.
The Customs operation was aimed at those computer shops that offer pre-loading of unlicensed software service for free to customers.
For the first time, a computer shop in possession of 23 sets of computer installed with suspected infringing software was found to be charging customers for playing online games at the shop. The charge was about $20 for three hours.
In the operation, Customs seized an additional three sets of computer with infringing software in test purchases by Customs officers posing as customers.
Overall, Customs officers seized 26 computers and 102 pirated disks of computer software. The total seizure value was about $140,000.
