Singapore firm criminally charged in landmark copyright case

An interior design firm caught using pirated software has become the first company in Singapore to be criminally charged under tougher copyright laws, court documents showed.

Police lodged criminal charges against PDM International Pte Ltd before a district court Thursday after discovering 51 pieces of illegal Microsoft, Adobe and Autodesk software installed in the company's computers.

Media reports said police raided the company's premises last September after getting a tip-off from the industry organization Business Software Alliance, which offers rewards of up to 20,000 Singapore dollars (12,300 US) to informers.

While no officials of the firm were charged, the company could be fined 20,000 Singapore dollars if convicted.

It was the first time in Singapore that a company had been hauled to court to face criminal charges for copyright infringement under tougher laws aimed at protecting intellectual property.

In a move to boost its status as a research and development hub, Singapore last year amended the Copyright Act to make the use of pirated software "for commercial advantage" a criminal offence.

This allowed police to take action against suspected violators.

Before the amendment, software firms can only file civil charges against those suspected of illegally installing their products on their computers, and only the sale and distribution of pirated materials were considered criminal offences.

The charge sheet obtained by AFP on Friday accused PDM International of installing 20 illegal Microsoft software programs in its computers, including copies of Windows 2000 Pro, Office 2000 Standard and Office XP Pro.

Another 20 computer software published by Adobe and 11 Autodesk software were also found installed.