Accordingly, copyright infringement in the fields of cultural and information services may be fined up to VND100 million. For software copyright infringement, the violators may be fined from 1-5 times more than the value of the infringed software products.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) said that the incudences of software copyright violation in Vietnam has fallen recently, particularly since the country has performed anti-software copyright infringement measures. Specifically, the violations were reduced from 94% last year to 90% at present.

Though the figure is still among the highest in the world, Tarun Sawney, Director in charge of anti-software copyright infringement of BSA in Asia and the Pacific agreed that losses caused by software copyright infringement in Vietnam is not high, which is even lower than losses in some markets with a lower ratio of software copyright infringement.

“Software copyright infringement in Vietnam last year was 90%, causing losses of around US$38 million. Meanwhile the rate was 24% in the North America but losses were up to $7 billion,” said Mr. Tarun Sawney.

He emphasised that apart from the reason that the number of software users in Vietnam is still small, it also shows that the development speed of the country’s software industry is affected by software copyright infringement.

Vu Xuan Thanh, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Culture and Information (MoCI), revealed that related agencies are building a plan with the participation of six ministries to deal with software copyright infringement through 2010.

Mr Thanh also said that the MoCI’s inspectorate has combined with police to check and punish IT companies that commit software copyright violations and this task will be continued in the near future, mainly in Hanoi and HCM City.

Source: Vietnam Bridge