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T W E N T Y
S E V E N
“
I
love, original software” read a car sticker
on a white colored 118 NE car in the capital. I wanted to talk to the occupant and
understand whether he merely “loved” original software or he actually used it, or
more likely
—
whether putting this sticker was a fashion statement, a sign of his
computer literacy!
But before I could do what I had intended, yet another car caught my eye - a red
Maruti 1000 plastered with some aggressive messages! A sticker on it proclaimed
that software piracy was an offence, while another exclaimed, “Destroy Pirated
Software.” Yet another sticker held out this warning: “Thinking of Copying? Think
Again!” Yet another sticker held out this warning: “Thinking of Copying? Think Again!”
Call NASSCOM’s Anti-Piracy Hotline at 011-6114971.
All these stickers are a part of a fresh offensive launched by Nasscom against software
piracy. The campaign also includes the launch of an anti-piracy hotline, an EDP
audit kit and a spate of advertising in leading print and visual media.
NASSCOM’s anti-piracy initiative is a response to fresh amendments brought into
the Indian Copyright Act. Today, Indian law has teeth to bite the pirates. By far,
the most interesting and far reaching provision of the new amendments relate to
the creation of a new offence
—
if a person knowingly makes use of an infringing
copy of a computer program!
According to legal experts, this probably is the first measure anywhere in the
world, based on such lines.
According to Section 63B of the Act, deliberate copying of a program by an individual
or an organization would lead to imprisonment for seven days, which is extendable
to three years, depending upon the severity of the violation of the act. The fine for
such an offence would be a minimum of Rs. 50,000, which can also extend to Rs.
2
lakh per infringement. In other words, a software pirate, irrespective of whether
he is an individual, a CEO, a businessman, or a doctor, has to suffer imprisonment
for a minimum of seven days if he/she is proved guilty of offence. The jail term
The Observer October 19, 1994
Thinking Of Copying? Think Again!
