/ 10 May 1999

BID TO END PIRACY

MICROSOFT SA, the Associated South African Music Industry and the Pretoria branch of the police commercial crime unit this week joined forces against copyright violation. In a joint statement issued on Friday, the three bodies said the police, at the request of Microsoft and ASAMI, conducted a raid on a person suspected of making illegal copies of software and music CDs in Pretoria. Several counterfeit CDs were confiscated and the suspect is acing charges of contravening the Copyright Act of 1978. Copyright piracy in the local software and music industry results in a combined loss to the South African economy of R900-million each year.