Cocunut milk maker charged of software piracy

The Thai police raided one of Thailand's biggest coconut milk manufacturers and found 224 PCs with illegally obtained software, worth about Bt9.22 million - this year's largest software infringement case so far.

The raided company, among the country's leading canned coconut milk and canned food exporters, allegedly violated software copyrights of Microsoft, Autodesk and SolidWorks, at both its back office and manufacturing plant. Last year, its revenue was recorded at Bt1.57 billion, mainly from exports to markets in Asia, Europe and North America.

"Despite its reputation and financial status, the company apparently took the wrong direction in use of unlicensed software in its operations," said the Economic Cyber Crime Division's Deputy Commander Pol Col Gen Chainarong Charoenchainao.

The Economic Crime Division already raided 147 companies in the January-September period, finding stolen software on 3,869 PCs with the total infringement value of about Bt 324 million. The total asset value of the raided firms amounted to Bt69.7 billion. Aside from Bangkok and the peripheral suburbs, key raid locations include industrial-zone provinces such as Chon Buri, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Ratchasima and Chiang Mai.



"We will continue to focus on business organisations - such as animation companies - and factories and manufacturers of food, textile, automobile and parts and electronics in the industrial estates nationwide," saidChainarong. "Meanwhile, we will continue to educate corporate end-user and individuals on risks associated with use of illegal software."

For five consecutive years now, Thailand has made continued progress towards lowering the PC software piracy rate. The rate fell from 80 per cent in 2006 to 72 per cent in 2011, according to the Global Software Piracy Study by International Data Corporation (IDC) released in May this year.

Working closely with related government agencies like the Department of Intellectual Property, ECD is aiming to get the country delisted from the US Special 301 Priority Watch List, which is an annual review of intellectual property protection and market access practices in foreign countries.