Let's face it. Piracy is a touchy subject for those of us working in creative industries such as music, arts, literature, architecture, design and software. We are trying to sell something that is the result of thousands of hours of development and testing, when someone else jumps in and simply copies all of our hard work for their own benefit.However, I'm not here to lecture you on how counterfeiting products is not the victimless crime it may seem to be. I would like to talk about some recent developments in the complex world of Intellectual Property Rights in Thailand.

Did you realise that the protection and licensing of Intellectual Property can act as a much-needed financial catalyst to boost Thailand's economy? Intellectual Property licensing and enforcement allows both companies and individuals to obtain a reasonable return on their investment, sustaining business and encouraging future research and development. According to an economic study by the Business Software Alliance, a reduction of 10 per cent in worldwide piracy over four years would create US$142 billion (Bt4.31 trillion) in new economic activity and add nearly 500,000 new high-tech jobs around the world.

Earlier this year, the Economic and Cyber Crime Division of the Royal Thai Police discovered illegal software worth millions of baht in piracy raids at popular IT malls and commercial wholesale-pirating operations. Twelve vendors were arrested for selling illegal software. The value of Microsoft products alone, including Windows and Office, was more than Bt18 million.

Last year, 210 companies were raided on suspicion that they were using unauthorised software. Pirated programs worth about B472 million were found installed on their computers. The percentage of PCs in Thailand running illegal software has dropped from 90 per cent to 75 per cent, but this offers little encouragement.

When we think of all the benefits that a healthy IT ecosystem can provide to our society, it is disheartening to know that there are still blatant offenders out there who repeatedly commit piracy crimes. According to the Copyright Act BE 2537, the punishment for infringement of a copyrighted computer program by selling, occupying for sale, or offering for sale, is six months to four years imprisonment, a fine of Bt100,000 to Bt800,000, or both. Yet, Intellectual Property offenders are still profiting from illegal operations that severely hurt the IT industry.

The fact is - as I mentioned earlier -protection and licensing of intellectual property is essential for its role as an economic catalyst. The piracy issue in Thailand must be one of the country's top priorities, to protect not only the intellectual property of businesses and individuals, but also its consumers' rights.

It's important for Thai people to see the value of using genuine products and software. From Microsoft's point of view, business partners should know that within the IT ecosystem, for every $1 that Microsoft (Thailand) makes in revenue, more than $17 is generated by our large local-partner ecosystem of hardware original-equipment manufacturers, software companies and so on.

Businesses and consumers can help efforts to achieve a healthy IT ecosystem by realising the real benefits of buying and using authentic software and refraining from buying illegal copies that not only harm their PCs, but also the IT industry.

Brian Williams is senior regional programme manager for anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting investigations of Microsoft (Thailand)'s Legal and Corporate Affairs Department.