Anti-piracy campaign switches to Malaysian malls

28.10.2008
The Malaysian ministry of domestic trade and consumer affairs' (MDTCA) ongoing campaign against software piracy has switched to the country's shopping malls, with the launch of the Sikap Tulen IT Mall campaign.

MTDCA deputy secretary general Daud Bin Tahar said that this latest campaign would include support from industry players like software industry watchdog Business Software Alliance (BSA) and software giant Microsoft Malaysia.

According to Daud, Sikap Tulen IT Mall is about creating the best possible environment for the buying and selling of genuine IT products, as well as promoting honesty with customers.

BSA chair of Malaysia committee Roland Chua said: "The joint efforts by the MDTCA and the BSA have continued to bear fruit as proven by the lower piracy rate recorded by Malaysia which was reported in the Annual BSA/IDC Global Software Piracy Study in May 2008."

Chua confirmed that since the introduction of Ops Tulen in 2002, and subsequently Sikap Tulen in 2007, PC software piracy in Malaysia now stands at its lowest ever at 59 percent.

Microsoft Corporation associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting, David Finn, said, "MDTCA's approach in focusing anti-counterfeit efforts on IT Malls and IT stores in shopping complexes will take the anti-piracy campaign to the next level and curb the issue at the root of the matter."