Software in the Land of Smiles (a study of software piracy in Thailand)

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Software in the Land of Smiles (a study of software piracy in Thailand)

1.Overview

Walk down the street in Thailand and amongst the numerous trinket vendors, you will find one that has catalog of software titles. The same catalogs can also be found at the major shopping malls at numerous retailers. Flip through the catalogs, choose your software titles, and pay around US$3. A runner will go retrieve your titles and, in about 5-10 minutes, you will have your new software. This is only a glimpse of the multi-million dollar world of software piracy and how accessible it has become in the land of smiles, Thailand.

Software piracy is the use of software without a license from the copyright holder. There are several forms of piracy ranging from sharing personal copies of programs to mass distribution and selling of those programs. Thailand, by far, has a problem with the latter.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) first identified Thailand as one of the worst pirate countries in 1985. From 1985 to present, Thailand has been frequently on and off of the IIPA priority watch list for its piracy and lack of enforcement. Thailand made great strides in 1995 when it passed a new Copyright bill which expressly include software. Trade negotiations and increased attention were the catalyst for some of the notable piracy crackdowns. However, piracy is still a major issue in Thailand today.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) recently initiated Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with Thailand in February 2004. The FTA would increase the number of US exports to Thailand and allow those exports to enter the country duty free. The IIPA has expressed concern over the FTA negotiations, citing probl...

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...echnewsworld.com/perl/story/32110.html

[8] BSA, Eight Annual Global Piracy Study, 2003,

http://global.bsa.org/globalstudy/2003_GSPS.pdf

[9] Richard Mills/Ricardo Reyes, USTR Notifies Congress of Intent to Initiate Free Trade Agreement Negotiations with Thailand, 2003,

http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2004/02/04-10.pdf

[10] Cornell law school, Berne Convention, Paris text, 1971,

http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/overview.html

[11] World Trade Organization, Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), 1994,

http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm7_e.htm

[12] CNET Asia staff, Dell joins budget PC push in Thailand, 2003,

http://news.com.com/2100-1003-1023306.html

[13] Jo Best, Is counterfeiting resulting in Microsoft price cuts?, 2004

http://www.silicon.com/software/os/0,39024651,39118856,00.htm

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