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Pirated Windows 2000 copies seized in HK

HONG KONG: Customs officers seized 50 pirated copies of Microsoft Windows 2000 in Hong Kong on Friday, just one day after the world launch of the new operating system.

Authorised Windows 2000, the latest version of Microsoft Windows NT, is not yet available in Hong Kong.

The copies were among 38,000 pirated discs valued at about HK$1.1 million (US$141,000) seized by officers at a distribution centre in Kowloon, the customs department said in a statement.

Two men aged 16 and 24 were arrested during the raid, it said.

The raid came a day after Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled the new product in the United States, and exactly two months after U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Hong Kong would be left off a U.S. trade watch-list because of the territory's toughened anti-piracy measures.

Microsoft said on Thursday it was on schedule to launch Windows 2000 in China on March 20.-Reuters