Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) on Thursday raided the premises of industrial shop in Nairobi and confiscated computers suspected to be loaded with pirated software worth millions of shillings.

The confiscated computers were allegedly installed with pirated software including the Microsoft Windows operating system and Microsoft office suite.

The raid comes hot on the heels of the Kenya Copyright Board’s recently concluded 30-day amnesty campaign for software offenders and sends a strong message on the enforcement of intellectual property law in Kenya.

Hard-earned cash

The Board last month issued amnesty period which ended on December 15 to individuals and businesses using illegal copies of software to acquire genuine copies or face the law.

"Piracy is a plague on our local markets. The raid is part of a series of activities we have launched to put a stop to piracy and help businesses make worthwhile margins on their products," said Marisella Ouma, Kenya Copyright Board Executive Director.

"We must put a stop to the software reseller pirates who trick uninformed consumers into parting with their hard-earned cash for illegal and, sometimes dangerous goods."

A study conducted by Business Software Alliance (BSA) shows wider use of pirated software in the country at 79 per cent.

Microsoft, the world’s most affected company in terms of software piracy, cautions consumers to be careful when purchasing software. It said caution would protect consumers from viruses and other cyber crimes.

"Counterfeit software is known to be vulnerable to computer viruses, malware and hackers. We call for caution when purchasing computer systems to avert privacy intrusion or and identity theft," said Wanja Murithi of Microsoft East and Southern Africa.