Software piracy on the rise in Botswana - Microsoft

In a bid to clamp down on the practice, Microsoft reports that the Botswana Police Service raided the premises of two computer resellers and one software technician in Gaborone during April earlier this year.  During the raids the police recovered copies of allegedly counterfeit software, including copies of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.

At a court hearing in July, the managing director of Apple Box Computers, one of the resellers raided by the police in April, pled guilty to loading pirated Microsoft software onto the computers for sale to customers.  Apple Box Computers was fined P20 000 for intellectual property infringement.  The cases against the other reseller and software technician have not yet gone to trial.