NCAC Strengthens Software Copyright ProtectionUse of pirated software products and illegal usage of authentic software will be controlled strictly according to a recent regulation issued by the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC).The NCAC regulation, issued early this year, urges China's organizational users of software to choose and financially support the purchase of authentic software products. Sources said that violators of the regulation will be subject to various administrative punishments such as confiscation of illegal income and a fine worth twice to five times the price of the authentic software. Meanwhile, the NCAC will register copyrighted software and periodically inspect the software market so as to promote the legitimate use of copyrighted software in the Chinese market. Xu Chao, a NCAC official, said Tuesday that the main purpose of the NCAC regulation is to educate and direct Chinese software endusers to respect the painstaking efforts of software developers. Wu Haitao, another official with the NCAC, said that China has formulated various regulations to protect the copyrights of software products. Wu said, "promotion of copyrighted software will help to develop China's fledging software industry." Statistics show that some 10,200 software products were registered with the NCAC from 1998 to March 2001. |
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