Date:15/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/15/stories/2006041503941500.htm

Business

Beijing to ban sale of computers sans operating system

BEIJING: Selling `naked' computers, or computers without operating system, would be banned in Beijing, a senior official with the Beijing Copyright Bureau said here on Thursday.

The ban will take place by the end of this year and is aimed to further protect intellectual property of software, Wang Yefei, deputy director of the bureau, said at a press conference here.

Government departments should not purchase computers without legitimate software, and all domestically-made and imported computers were required to be sold with legitimate software pre-installed, said Wang.

He said all the departments of the Beijing municipal government had been using genuine software.

Beijing will target governments of townships on protection of legitimate software this year, and in late April it will carry out pilot programmes to fight pirate software in large-sized state-owned, private and foreign companies.

Some manufacturers have been selling `naked' computers, which are hundreds of yuan (tens of U.S. dollars) cheaper than those equipped with legitimate software.

Some customers would install pirate software and infringe legitimate rights and interests of software companies, according to the official. — Xinhua