Chinese local governments to use legal software

Beijing, April 11 (IANS) In a crackdown on violation of intellectual property rights and use of fake computer products, all provincial governments across China have been ordered to use authorised and copyrighted software by June.

Computers of prefecture and county-level governments will all be installed with copyrighted software by the end of 2013, said Wang Zhicheng, deputy director of the copyright department of the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Copyrighted software have already been installed in central government departments and agencies in May 2011, Xinhua reported.

The country's new laws require all government bodies to buy computers only with pre-installed genuine operating system and to allocate funds to buy authorised software.

So far, governments at all levels have spent a total of 1.06 billion yuan (around $168 million) on genuine software, the official said.

Authorities have also stepped up efforts to promote the use of copyrighted software in companies. Statistics show genuine software was installed in the computers of at least 15,256 companies by December.