Pirated Software May Threaten Garment Firms

3 June 2013
The Cambodia Daily
Economy and commerce / Exports / Trade
Cargo / Chinese aid / counterfeit goods / footwear factories / Garment exports / Garment factories / Garment Industry / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia / garments / GMAC / GMAC Secretary General Ken Loo / ICT Business Association / ICT Business Association president Pily Wong / Indian aid / Information and Communication Technology / Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Business Association / Information and Communication Technology Business Association / Information and Communication Technology sector / intellectual property / intellectual property department / Intellectual Property Rights / Ken Loo / labor costs / LDCs / least developed countries / licensed digital software / Microsoft / Microsoft in Cambodia / Microsoft in Cambodia country manager Pily Wong / Ministry of Commerce / Ministry of Commerce intellectual property department director Var Roth San / Pily Wong / piracy / pirated goods / pirated software / production costs / software / software licences / Thailand / UCA / Unfair Competitions Act / US / Var Roth San / World Trade Organisation / WTO MembersUN

Garment factories run the risk of having their cargo confiscated by U.S. customs authorities if they continue using pirated computer software in their administrative operations, and may be prosecuted under a law that requires all manufacturers to use licensed digital software, according to a local technology business association. In a statement issued Thursday, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Business Association—a Cambodian organization whose mission is to represent the country’s information and communication technology sector internationally—informed the country’s more than 400 exporting garment and footwear factories that the Unfair Competition Act (UCA), passed in various U.S. states in 2011, could severely impact the garment industry’s annual exports of more than $4 billion because of the country’s breach of intellectual property rules. … While critics of implementing strict World Trade Organizations rules on intellectual property rights often say that Cambodia, as a least developed country should be exempt from the rules, [President of ICT Businesses Association and country manager of Microsoft in Cambodia] Mr. [Pily] Wong considers the application of the UCA “fair” in the garment industry. … “The garment factories are making money, and they are taking advantage of low labor costs in the country,” Mr. Wong said. “Maybe the country might be a least-developed country, but in terms of the companies themselves, they are not smaller than the ones in India and China. …

http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/pirated-software-may-threaten-garment-firms-28459/