Vivendi goes after pirates

To protect its intellectual property rights, global media giant Vivendi Universal Games has stepped up its campaign to get rid of software pirates, a company official said.

Gerry Castro, vice president of Asian Media Development Group, the exclusive partner of Vivendi in the country, said police have confiscated personal computers loaded with un-licensed games in simultaneous raids in two computer esta-blishments in Pangasinan.

Raided were the Laundry Bytes along Rizal street in Poblacion and the LJ Computer in the public market of Mangal-dan town.

Seized from the two esta-blishments were 17 computer sets loaded with "Half-Life Counter Strike," a popular brand of video game owned by Vivendi.

The raids were conducted by virtue of search warrants issued by Judge Rolando Mislang of the Dagupan Regional Trial Court Branch 42.

The owners of the shops were charged with violation of Republic Act 8293, or the In-tellectual Property Code.

Vivendi owns and publishes branded video games such as Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo and the world-renowned Counter Strike.