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Karnataka initiates steps for zero software piracy in state

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

The pro-IT Karnataka government on Wednesday became the first state in the country to come out with an official order to combat rampant software piracy in its departments, and has resolved to become a zero piracy organisation with Bangalore as a `zero piracy territory' by January 2002.

Though the state IT department is spearheading the war against software piracy in co-ordination with officials of other departments, state IT secretary Vivek Kulkarni and state IT director Ramana Reddy did not disclose the amount of piracy either detected or has been going on in the vast administrative machinery of the state.

What may be termed as a first official action in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt a systematic approach to combat piracy, the government order urges all its departments to use only genuine software by laying down a detailed process for checking the use of legal software within its own set-up.

The high-powered committee, headed by state home minister Mallikarjuna Kharge, will supervise the implementation of the GO, with logistical support extended by the state IT department and compliance officers within the state departments and enterprises.

"Compliance officers will have the power to conduct internal audits and random checks to ensure that the provisions of the GO are complied with," said a statement issued by the state IT department.

While the IT secretary had the data on software piracy in India, besides that of the US, China, Japan and Hong Kong, he could not furnish the percentage of pirated software being used by the state departments.

"Software piracy in India is said to be in the region of 60-70 per cent, while it is around 25 per cent in the US, about 90 per cent in China and Taiwan, 45 per cent in Japan, and about 80 per cent in Hong Kong.

Admitting that piracy is a major deterrent to the growth of the software industry, state IT minister M M Nanaiah said in a statement in absentia that the GO was a major step forward in the fight against software piracy.

"The government intends to lead through example, by using only legal software and taking strong steps to protect Intellectual Property Rights."

In order to put the GO into action, the government will educate and train its officials on IPR issues and the legal consequences of infringement of such rights. "The government will hold workshops and seminars for various departments and enterprises concerned with procurement, use, archiving, and redistribution of computer software," Kulkarni stated.

The compliance officers and chief information officers of all the departments will be trained in the software asset management, while the state police and prosecutors will be trained on the collection of evidence and framing a strong case for prosecuting copyright infringes in the state.

Recognizing the need for a strong IPR regime to counter the infringement of IPRs in computer software, specially its copyright by various means, including the purchase of illegal software, unauthorised copying of computer software, and its clandestine distribution, the state government is committed to eliminate such practices to make Karnataka emerge as a zero piracy territory.

Even as the government gets cracking to curb software piracy in its various departments and semi-government organisations, the IT department could not furnish to the media details of IT spending, especially on software by each of the state department, nor the budgetary allocations made for such spending.

Ramana Reddy, however, said the guidelines issued by the office of the state chief secretary, entails every state department to spend around 3 per cent of its budgeted expenditure on IT, including software and hardware.

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