A TOTAL of 47 retail software outlets in Guangdong province have been raided by Chinese government officials and representatives of the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
More than 700 suspected counterfeit CD-ROM discs containing thousands of software programmes and 13,000 floppy disks believed to contain unauthorised software published by BSA members were seized together with 22 personal computers and inventory.
The raid was the result of three months of investigations by the BSA and is one of the largest in a series of actions against illegal software dealers.
According to BSA vice-president Valerie Colbourn, the raid was not related to the current trade talks on protection of intellectual property between the United States and China.
Ms Colbourn said: 'The raids have been planned for some time and we have been working on them since last December. This is the first time we have co-operated between administrative bodies.'