FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:     Elisha Lawrence, Director of Asia/Pacific Anti-Piracy,

               (415) 789-0454, elawrence@spa.org

             Sandra Sellers, V.P. of Intellectual Property Education

               and Enforcement,(202) 452-1600 x311, ssellers@spa.org

        Hong Kong Software Pirates Arrested Due to SPA Investigation

   Expansion of SPA's International Anti-Piracy Program Proves Effective

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June 4, 1996 (Washington, D.C.) - Hong Kong Customs officers arrested two
suspected software pirate vendors in Hong Kong on Wednesday, May 22, 1996,
and seized 20 CD-ROMs, each containing software with an estimated total
retail value of US$20,000 along with the equipment capable of reproducing
the pirate CDs. This was a direct result of several months investigation and
surveillance by the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the leading trade
association for the personal computer software industry, which has begun an
active enforcement program in Hong Kong.

One vendor had allegedly been advertising via fax to various companies.
Customs officials then arrested the accomplice who worked for an Internet
provider company. Customs officers seized the computer, a CPU server and a
CD-ROM drive, which they believed to be the instruments for making the
infringing CD-ROMs.

SPA acted against this open infringement to protect its members, such as
Adobe, Claris and Apple, in the Hong Kong case. Greg Wrenn, corporate
counsel for Adobe Systems Inc., said, "Piracy is a serious problem for
Adobe, our local distributors and resellers and the worldwide software
industry. Adobe appreciates the hard work and time spent in this
investigation by the SPA and Hong Kong Customs officers and is very pleased
with the arrests. SPA's increasing activities in Asia/Pacific should be a
significant deterrent to such software piracy."

SPA's director for Asia/Pacific anti-piracy, Elisha Lawrence, said the
arrest is another step in an expanded anti-piracy program by SPA in the
territory, where the largest number of complaints of infringement has been
recorded. SPA has significantly expanded its anti-piracy activities in the
Asia/Pacific region, including both education and enforcement. In 1994, the
software industry suffered an estimated US$8 billion losses to worldwide
software piracy.

SPA is the leading trade association of the software industry, representing
the leading publishers as well as many start-up firms in the business,
entertainment and education markets. Its 1,200 members account for 90
percent of the sales of the U.S. packaged software industry. SPA is an
international organization with offices in both the United States and
Europe. SPA press releases are also available through fax-on-demand at (800)
637-6823.

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                     SPA Anti-Piracy SPA Press Releases