The Business Software Alliance, a global antipiracy advocacy group, has praised intensified efforts in the fight against illegal software here, as evidenced by a series of convictions in the Jakarta courts, as well as the imposition of jail terms on a number of pirates.

The BSA's representative in Indonesia, Farouk Cader, said Tuesday that the convictions indicated the government was serious about fighting copyright piracy.

Between September 2005 and February 2006, six owners of CD stores in Jakarta were given jail terms of between 10 months and two years under the 2002 Copyright Law. Fines of up to Rp 10 million (US$1,075) were also imposed.

"These mark the first cases that have been brought by the police before the courts, and in which convictions have resulted," Cader said.

"Previous cases never went to court, and the suspects were always released."

Those convicted had earlier been arrested in police raids on major shopping centers in the capital.

BSA antipiracy director for Asia Tarun Sawney said that the retail value of the pirated software seized during the raids in February alone reached about $5 million.

The police confiscated more than 33,000 CDs containing unlicensed software from the stores. The copyright to the seized software belongs to members of BSA.

The police say they will continue to conduct regular raids so as to deter the pirates.

Rampant copyright piracy here has prompted the U.S. Trade Representative's Office to keep Indonesia on its Priority Watch List since 1996.

Currently, Indonesia is ranked as the country with the fourth highest level of software piracy in the world, with a recent study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) revealing that about 87 percent of the software installed in computers here is pirated.

Indra Sosrodjojo, a director of software provider Andal Software -- the only local member of the BSA -- cited another statistic to show just how rampant piracy is here.

In 2005, expenditure on packaged software counted for only 7.2 percent of total information technology spending, while the expenditure on systems provision stood at 55 percent.

"Usually, the expenditure on software is much higher than on hardware, particularly in the case of personal computers," he said. "But the much lower level of expenditure here on software means that most Indonesians are still using low-cost pirated software.".