Guangdong will make an all-out effort to push forward the use of legal software in the enterprises this year after it completed the popularization of the products among the government institutions during the past two years.

Eight departments including the provincial copyright bureau, information industry department, foreign trade and economic cooperation department, finance department, State-owned assets supervision and administration commission and industrial and commercial federation have jointly issued a plan for the implementation of the use of legal software in enterprises.

The plan targets large-scale enterprises and will be carried out in enterprises in order of State-owned, foreign-funded and privately owned ones this year. The plan will also be carried out among medium- and small-sized enterprises afterwards in the province.

Although no mandatory timetable is set for the enterprises to use legal software, all enterprises should conduct an overall self-investigation in the first half of the year. Government departments will publish a list of enterprises using pirated software and this will change the situation, according to the plan.

Currently, the provincial office of the leading group for the use of authorized software has delivered forms to the leading enterprises, requiring them to report their existing number and type of computers, legal and illegal software and the amount of legal software needed.

Enterprises in the province should change unauthorized software into legal software during the period of self-investigation, said the report.

The use of authorized software will not only enhance the efficiency and quality of the information operation of enterprises, but also guarantee the objectivity and steadiness of the core assets of enterprises to avoid various kinds of problems in the quality, service and information safety by using illegal software, said the provincial copyright bureau.

It has been learnt that enterprises have responded to the government call of using legal software. For example, China South Grid Corporation has already made great efforts in using legal software.

To answer the call of related provincial departments, the company has specially sent people to learn the details for the plan implementation.

Under the background of international cooperation and competition, using legal software shows the fundamental respect for the intellectual property rights and working achievements, said the company.

Meanwhile, as part of the efforts to curb the IPR infringement, Guangzhou Tianhe District People's Court ruled in a verdict last month that Guangdong Huyi Science and Technology Co Ltd should stop the infringement of Adobe System Incorporated and compensate the latter 110,000 yuan ($14,100) for its economic loss.

The latter sued the Guangdong company for infringing its software copyright. It is the first civil case involving software end-user piracy in the province.

Editor: Yan