VietNamNet Bridge – Microsoft has taken legal action against Austnam Joint Stock Company, a Hanoi-based metal roof tile and construction steel producer, for alleged copyright infringement.

Hanoi City’s People’s Court has announced to handle the lawsuit after inspectors from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Ministry of Public Security inspected 22 computers at Austnam in Thanh Xuan District.

As of July 31, 2013, Austnam had shown only five licenses for legal use of Microsoft Window XP software, five others for Microsoft Office 2003 and other related payment invoices. The enterprise was also found to use a lot of pirated software of Microsoft, Autodesk, Adobe and Lac Viet.

Austnam then admitted its infringement with the total pirated software value of over US$42,200, or VND900 million.

After both sides have failed to reach an agreement in copyright purchase negotiations, Microsoft decided to bring the case to court to ask for compensation.

Microsoft hopes that its legitimate interests would be protected by law, said Rebecca Ho, Microsoft spokesperson for intellectual property enforcement.

This is the second time that a company in Vietnam has been sued for using illegal computer software. In late 2013, Microsoft Vietnam and Lac Viet Company filed a lawsuit against a Taiwanese company, Gold Long John Dong Nai International, for software piracy.

Tarun Sawney, Business Software Alliance (BSA) senior piracy director for the Asia-Pacific region, said software piracy not only hinders software industry development but also causes tax losses.

SGT/VNN