Almost all of the more than 100 major computer users, mainly companies, controlled by the Police and the Romanian Office for Copyright in the first three months of 2001 were caught off guard with respect to licences for the software used or distributed, Business Software Alliance (BSA) representative in Romania, lawyer Nicolae Burchel said on Wednesday.
The checks were organised at the request of BSA, the non-profit organisation representing the leading worldwide software developers. Established in Washington in 1988, BSA now has offices in more than 70 countries throughout the world.
BSA members include Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, Compaq, Symantec and Intel.
As compared with the same period of last year, the number of controls performed by authorities prompted by BSA increased 50%. Prosecution files are currently drafted in 16 localities in the country, on the grounds of either unauthorised software use or distribution.
BSA members are civil parties in these suits, claiming amounts calculated based on the extent of the damages ascertained, which reach 7.7bn lei.
"The losses caused by software piracy in Romania might actually total more than 20bn lei," Nicolae Burchel estimates.
Ever since Law 8/1996 on copyright and related rights was published, 14 court rulings have been delivered, sentencing criminals to pay fines or serve six months in prison with suspension and to payment of damages.
"We believe that the number of controls will go up to about 400 by the end of the year, but there will most likely be more than that," Burchel added.
Regardless of these actions, Romania is still on the famous "Special 301" list of the American Government, list comprised of the states that cannot seem to efficiently contain software piracy. Business Software Alliance has set its mind on changing this situation.
Whereas in 1999, 87 companies and natural persons were controlled upon BSA's suggestion, the number of those checked increased to 300 in 2000. The record was broken in 2001, when more than 100 controls were performed in the first months of the year alone.
"The development trend is very good, considering that the piracy rate has gone down from 93% to 81% and authorities are very interested in the issue. Three years ago, when we came along, there were just a few of us engaged in anti-piracy in Romania and no one thought we would make it. Now we have a programme that really works and has development prospects," lawyer Nicolae Burchel said.
Two large Bucharest-based companies with more than 80 PCs were checked last month. One of them is Rocar. "The control is not over yet, so we cannot provide details about what we found there," the BSA officials specified.
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