First published: 23rd December 2013
Hong Kong Customs officers have arrested eight men and two women aged from 25 to 56 for using pirated computer software in the course of business. In the crackdown on software piracy in commercial organisations, Customs officers searched the offices of seven companies, including engineering, design, advertising, printing and catering businesses.
Officers seized 85 computers with suspected pirated software valued at about HK$360,000 installed, including operating system and office application software.
At a press conference on 22 December, Michael Kwan, head of the Intellectual Property Investigation (Operations) Group reported that the department had received 92 complaints about corporate software piracy from January to November this year, a slight increase from 87 in the same period last year. Mr Kwan also encouraged the public to report software piracy activities.
The Hong Kong Government provides various information about intellectual property law and how to comply with it, including an introduction to intellectual property protection and Guidance on Prevention of End-User Piracy in Business (PDF).