Moldova starts fighting against software theft

A campaign against software theft was launched on Wednesday, November 1, in Chisinau, aiming to reduce the number of consumers who utilize unlicensed software. Representatives of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in Chisinau signed a collaboration protocol with the Moldova’s State Agency for Intellectual Property and the Ministry of Internal Affaires (MAI). The document provides for collaboration relations between these structures in the domain of reducing the rate of software theft and the respect of the author’s right. Also, efforts for improving the legislative frame in the named sphere will be made. As part of a briefing on the occasion of the event, the representative of BSA in Bucharest, Marta Popescu, declared that the aim of this protocol is to eliminate unlicensed programs installed on personal computers from the Republic of Moldova, in a proportion of 96 %. As a consequence, the cited source asserts, both software companies and the economy of the Republic of Moldova will profit, given the fact that its budget will receive financial resources, accumulated from the sales of the licensed products and the taxes paid by producers. Moreover, the process of production and putting into circulation of the licensed software products provides the creation of work places for citizens too. Marta Popescu says that after Microsoft Company, other members of BSA will come to the R. of Moldova. According to the representative of the MAI, Viorel Chetraru, Business Software Alliance will not enter the R. of Moldova with repressive actions, it will rather carry out actions of communication with the public, as part of which press conference will be held, in which informative materials will be spread. The Informational Campaign will last from November 2006 to February 2007, after which more drastic actions for combating illegalities in the domain will be applied. Viorel Chetraru says that even before BSA appeared in Moldova, the police counteracted cases of software theft, this year alone 48 criminal proceedings being initiated against to producers of illegal software, their distributors and users. Business Software Alliance is an organization which protects the authors’ rights in software and embodies several companies, including Microsoft. It protects licensed programs, the value of which is about 80% more than that of the illegal production.