Malaysian authorities have begun raiding computer retail outlets offering pirated software amid concerns that illegal copies of Microsoft Corp.’s newest operating system, Windows Vista, are on sale.
The strategy marks a shift from crackdowns over the past year that mainly targeted companies using unlicensed software, Ahmad Dahuri Mahmud, the Domestic Trade Ministry’s deputy director general of enforcement, said Friday.
“Computer dealers often sweeten computer purchases by offering consumers free (pirated) software pre-loaded onto their personal computers,” Ahmad Dahuri told a news conference.
The current clampdown started Thursday with the arrest of a store owner in a Kuala Lumpur suburban shopping mall. Officials seized three computers with pirated versions of Windows XP from a 28-year-old suspect’s premises, Ahmad Dahuri said.
The man is expected to be charged under copyright laws that provide for maximum prison sentences of five years and a fine of up to 20,000 ringgit ($6,670 Cdn) per infringement.
Officials were also investigating claims by the public that some dealers have been loading pirated versions of beta copies — unofficial versions released for tests — of Windows Vista, Ahmad Dahuri said.
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