Officials of the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) on Tueday raided the premises of an industrial company in Nairobi's Industrial area and confiscated computers loaded with suspected pirated software. The confiscated computers were allegedly installed with pirated software, including the Microsoft Windows operating system and Microsoft Office suite. Investigations are ongoing.
The raid comes hot on the heels of the Kenya Copyright Board's recently concluded 30-day amnesty campaign for software offenders and sends a strong message confirming that the Kenya Copyright Board is serious about the enforcement of intellectual property law in Kenya.
Acknowledging that the amnesty period was successful during a press conference at KECOBO offices, Dr. Marisella Ouma, KECOBO Executive Director said there were signs that the amnesty campaign was received positively by a section of unlicensed software users who took proactive steps to legalize their businesses.

"Counterfeit or pirated software is a plague on Kenya's local markets," said Dr. Marisella. "We must put a stop to the software reseller pirates who trick uninformed consumers into parting with their hard-earned cash for illegal and, sometimes dangerous, goods. Likewise, we also need to hold businesses responsible for ensuring that they are only using licensed software."

In a country where the Business Software Alliance (BSA), in their annual worldwide software piracy study for 2010, estimated that 79% of PC software installed in 2010 in Kenya was pirated, Microsoft works closely, as a member of the BSA, to support investigations by the Kenya Copyright Board authorities into resellers suspected of offering unlicensed software to consumers or businesses suspected of using unlicensed software.

Counterfeit software is known to be vulnerable to computer viruses, malware and hackers, leaving consumers and businesses unprotected against data loss, privacy issues or identity theft. Meanwhile, local resellers have difficulty competing with pirated software that has been priced at below-market levels and are potentially forced to cut jobs.

Businesses and individuals not running genuine Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office and Windows, risk sacrificing performance and open themselves to increased threat of infection from viruses and malware, said Wanja Murithi, OEM Lead, Microsoft East and Southern Africa.

In an independent benchmarking test comparing PCs running genuine and counterfeit Microsoft Office and Windows:

24% of PCs running counterfeit software either became infected at installation or independently downloaded and installed malicious software upon connection to the internet;

60% of PCs running genuine Windows booted up faster than those running pirated software by an average of 56%;

50% of PCs running genuine Windows and Microsoft Office products outperformed their pirated counterparts by an average of 50% or more when opening Excel and Word files;

59% of PCs running genuine Windows outperformed their pirated counterparts by an average of 46% in a test measuring the time it took to load popular Internet web pages heavy with text and graphics;

56% of laptops running genuine Windows demonstrated significantly longer battery life outlasting their pirated counterparts with an average of nearly 26 extra minutes of computer use per charge;

Less time spent waiting is more time spent being productive, conducting business, connecting with friends and family, or having fun on your PC.

Pirated software often leaves computers infected with viruses and malware due to an increased chance of security issues.3

62% of consumers have reported a problem with the pirated software they had installed in the past two years;

36% of computers slowed down so much that the pirated software had to be uninstalled;

34% of consumers said the pirated software wouldn't run;

16% of consumers said the pirated software infected their computer with a virus;

15% of consumers said the pirated software overran their computer with pop-up ads

Rather than line the pockets of criminal organisations, Microsoft argues that intellectual property rights should be protected to support local innovation and employment instead.

"If you're unclear about how damaging worldwide piracy crimes can be for Kenya, remember this number: $ 85 million US dollars," said Michael Berenju, Anti-Piracy Manager for Microsoft East & Southern Africa. "According to last year's BSA/IDC piracy study, that is the total loss to the Kenya economy due to software piracy in 2010. This is about more than the impact on rights holders like Microsoft, but the entire IT ecosystem, and ultimately the massive contribution that legitimate sales and services make to the whole Kenya economy."

With the increasing sophistication of software pirates and cyber criminals, Microsoft warns consumers to avoid the threats to their online identity, as well as their wallets, by insisting on genuine software from their local retailers.