Microsoft fights piracy in Nepal

After fake currency, CDs and branded clothes and accessories, Nepal is fast becoming a hub of fake software, to the consternation of software giant Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft has turned its attention to Nepal after learning that there is rampant unauthorised distribution of its products in the Himalayan kingdom.

Currently, the Dhaka-based Microsoft Bangladesh Limited is the US giant's authorised distributor of Microsoft products in Nepal.

However, several companies and fly-by-night vendors are selling Microsoft software in Kathmandu at prices that are just a fraction of the original cost.

"There are mainly three kinds of fakes," says Allen Tuladhar, CEO of Unlimited New Media, a Kathmandu-based company that created software history in November last year when it launched Microsoft's Windows XP Office 2003 in Nepali.

"There are the pirated software, imitation software and grey market software, where the product is genuine but sold illegally," he said.

All three abound in Nepal. While a basic Microsoft package costs about NRS 20,000, a pirated copy sold in the streets costs as little as NRS 100.

One of the biggest corporate houses in Nepal, the Chaudhury Group, says it became involved in the Microsoft controversy willy-nilly.

According to the group, they signed an agreement in good faith with a Bangladesh company, Multimode, thinking the latter was a Microsoft distributor, for obtaining rights to market the package in Nepal.

The Chaudhury Group got a rude shock when it approached the corporate houses in Nepal to sell the software.

On Sunday, Microsoft's lawyers in New Delhi, AZB and Partners, issued a public notice in Nepal, saying Microsoft had not appointed any distributor in Nepal.

"All such claims are completely false, malafide, mischievous and irresponsible, the notice said.

"Anyone dealing with the said person or organisation shall do so at his/her risk."

"It was a misunderstanding," the Chaudhury Group told IANS.

"We have enough business to take care of and we are very sensitive about our corporate image. We have been in touch with everyone concerned to see where the mistake had occurred," the group added.

However, while the big groups would heed the Microsoft warning, the pirates would continue to turn a blind eye since they have nothing at stake and can vanish at a minute's notice.

According to software specialists in Kathmandu, pirated software from India, Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan have been flooding Nepal's markets for over a decade. Nepal's copyright laws are virtually non-existent to deter the flourishing racket.

In addition, a decade-old communist insurgency and deepening political instability combined to make a succession of governments ill-equipped to fight the menace.

"Microsoft is concerned not just about diminishing business in Nepal," Tuladhar said. "It is also trying to discharge its corporate social responsibility."

"The company realises that in poor countries like Nepal, technology has to be encouraged. To do that, it has been offering the Windows XP Office 2003 software free," Tuladhar added.

(IANS)

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