Indonesia Cracks Down on Pirated Computer Software

Pirated copies of computer software were pulled off store shelves Tuesday as a copyright protection agreement took effect between the United States and Indonesia.

The price of an edition of Lotus Development Corp. software shot up overnight from $1.50 for a bogus copy to $422 for the Cambridge, Mass., manufacturer’s original version.

In anticipation of the change, last-minute shoppers packed a central Jakarta computer store Saturday and Monday, snapping up all pirated software manuals in stock at unadvertised discounts, the store manager said.

“We were packed. You could not move in here. The expatriates were more panicked than the local people on this,” he said.

The store was deserted Tuesday. Master copies of pirated software were locked away “for our collection,” the store manager said. Legitimate versions of WordStar 5 and Lotus 1-2-3, third release, were displayed for sale.

Several store managers contacted Tuesday said they had no software for sale, only hardware.

“Bigger stores that sell software as a sideline do not want to take the risk,” one store manager said.

It was unclear whether small shops that specialize exclusively in pirated software would continue operating somehow. Spokesmen for the police and the Attorney General’s Office were not available for comment.

A prominent computer dealer suggested that U.S. software producers drop their prices to match the spending power of people in developing nations.