Israel the one-disk country: Windows 2000 already here
By Yuval Dor and Ora Coren Ha'aretz CorrespondentsJust 24 hours before Microsoft officially launched its new operating system, Windows 2000, dozens of pirated copies of the CD-ROM were seized in a raid at the new central bus station in Tel Aviv. The raid was set in motion by Microsoft in conjunction with other software companies such as Electronic Arts, responsible for the computer games Fifa 2000, NBA and others, as well as the Bug store chain and other companies, following information obtained by Microsoft concerning the illegal sale of pirated software at the bus station.
The information was passed on to the police, which raided three stalls and confiscated about 5,500 computer discs, including 2,000 CD-ROMs containing illegal copies of Playstation games, 2,000 discs containing other popular computer games, and about 1,500 additional CD-ROMs containing software and applications such as PhotoDraw, Autocad and as well as 70 copies of the final version of Windows 2,000 selling for NIS 100 per CD-ROM. The total value of the software seized in the raid is estimated at about one million shekels.
The director of the copyright and piracy division at Microsoft Israel, Attorney Ami Fleischer, told Ha'aretz that the sale of pirated software is conducted in broad daylight and that the relatively light punishments imposed on the sellers of pirated software do not serve as an effective deterrent.
"The anger of the Americans should not surprise anyone if someone who parks on the sidewalk gets a NIS 500 fine while someone who sells pirated software worth hundreds of thousands of shekels is fined a measly NIS 1,000."
The police are trying to find the source that provided the pirates with the original CD-ROM from which the illegal copies were made. Fleischer says that Microsoft is having difficulty tracking it down because hundreds of copies were handed out to companies that began working with Windows 2000 in advance of the official launching of the product. Fleischer admitted it was possible that the disc originated in Microsoft but discounted the possibility as unlikely.
Pirated copies of Windows 2000 have appeared in other countries as well. In Moscow, a pirated copy of Windows 2000 goes for $2.75 a disc. In Hong Kong too, notorious for its sale of pirated music discs, illegal copies of Windows 2000 can be had for a few dollars. The fact that the new operating system is compatible with numerous languages making it very easy for pirates to copy and sell the software worldwide.
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) which represents the organizations that represent software and music companies in their struggle against pirates has recommended that the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) upgrade Israel to the most severe rating of countries that violate intellectual property rights, a Priority Foreign Country. This rating involves severe trading sanction on countries that violated intellectual property rights.
The American administration through its trade office headed by Charlene
Barshevsky, rates countries worldwide where violations of intellectual
property rights are discovered in accordance with the severity of the
violations and the government effort made to fight them. The most
common violations involve pirated computer CD-ROMs and music discs.
