The Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) joined forces in order to combat Internet piracy. Within this cooperation, there will be proposed changes to the legislation so as to ensure the protection of the intellectual rights. The Moldovan legislation will be adjusted to the international one, representatives of the three institutions said in a news conference at IPN.

Daniel Martin, the representative of BAS in Moldova, said the use of counterfeit programs is an offense, regardless of its purposes – commercial or non-commercial. Even so, the legislation does not provide punishments for the use of programs pirated at home.

Prosecutor Veaceslav Soltan said the maximum punishment for information offenses is 5 years in jail. Nobody has been sentenced in Moldova so far. The highest fine is 100,000 lei.

The illegal use of software programs for commercial purposes is considered an offense if the damage caused to the author of the program is higher than 50,000 lei. Up to this sum, there are imposed only fines.

As Moldova cannot now ensure its virtual secure, the virtual currency is not used and purchases over the Internet aren’t made, said Veaceslav Soltan. He considers that regulations should exist for Internet traffic, as for road traffic.

Iurie Cater, head of the Information Offenses Section of the National Patrolling Inspectorate, said that after the reform at the Ministry of the Interior was launched, it was decided that this kind of offenses will be investigated by a separate division and that every police station will include persons responsible for investigating offenses concerning the violation of the intellectual rights. For the purpose, there were trained police employees and students of the Police Academy “Stefan cel Mare”.

As regards the blocking or closing of virtual piracy websites, those attending the conference said this can be done based on court decisions. For such decisions to be passed, somebody must file a complaint about the violation of the intellectual rights. The authorities plan to filter out or to reduce the products offered by piracy websites so that they gradually remain without visitors.