Kazakhstan now has laws forbidding the unauthorized use of software. The new legal landscape resulted from two new pieces of legislation. On July 16 the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, signed a statute entitled On the Inclusion of Changes and Additions to the Copyright Law of the KazSSR and other Laws. The text of the main statute entitled The Law of the Republic of Kazakstan on Copyright and other Adjoining Laws was signed by the president on June 10, and later published in the local press. Together these laws now make it illegal to use or distribute unlicensed software in the Asian Republic. Reaction to the new laws was muted among both users and distributors. However Larisa Volkova, president of Computer Systems Corporation, Kazakhstan’s oldest Microsoft Corp, Borland International Inc and Symantec Corp dealer is a little more optimistic. We almost immediately noticed a reaction from customers in government organizations, says Mrs Volkova. She asserts that people from the Presidential Administration and parliament appeared in her office soon after the law was published in the local press.
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