Govt has no data on software piracy, is promoting open source

Government has set-up Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council under Ministry of Human Resource Development which reviews progress of copyright act in the country; Intellectual Property Rights of softwares are covered under Copyright Act

PTI | August 11, 2011



Government on Wednesday said it had no data on software piracy and the financial loss arising from it in the country.

"There is no official estimate available to ascertain the extent of software piracy in the country," Minister of state for Communications and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot, said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

In reply to a question, Pilot mentioned that most of the softwares in the country are being imported in the country and they are exempted from basic custom duty.

"There is no explicit data available on financial losses arising out of software piracy," Pilot said.The minister said government has set-up Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council under Ministry of Human Resource Development which reviews progress of copyright act in the country.

Intellectual Property Rights of softwares are covered under Copyright Act in the country. The minister mentioned that government is promoting free and open source software in e-governance applications in the country.

He said that government has set-up National Resource Centre for Free and Open Source Software (NRCFOSS) to carry out research, development, human resource development, FOSS deployment and awareness in the country.

"NRCFOSS has brought out an indigenous Linux based operating system named Bharat Operating System which supports Indian languages," Pilot said.
 

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