Over 10,000 People Caught in Copyright Violations

The Supreme Prosecutor's Office(SPO) announced that it uncovered a total number of 10,950 people who had infringed on intellectual property rights. Out of that total it arrested 701 in the first half of this year.
This figure jumped 44.4 percent compared to the 7,585 people, 509 of whom were arrested, caught during the same period in 1998. The increase in copyright violations stems from the intensive crackdown ordered by President Kim Dae-jung.
In particular, the number of those accused of illegally copying computer software created by foreign companies, such as U.S.-based Microsoft, amounted to 921 with 47 arrests, over four times that of last year.
The SPO said that the illegal pirating of software actually dropped below the 10 percent mark of all software being used because the government issued warnings to all public agencies, including state-run companies, and universities to change illegal copies to legitimate software in a highly-publicized campaign this April before it began a widespread crackdown on unauthorized users.