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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Crackdown on software piracy
By Amira Howeidy"A few years ago, an [Egyptian] programmer I knew developed an Arabic software word processor, which was far more advanced than the Windows Office 2000--the favourite of all IT people today. He tried selling 1,000 copies but succeeded in selling just a few. The reason why my friend's programme was thwarted was that his software was pirated by others," said Raafat Radwan, director of the cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC). He was addressing the audience attending the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Conference this week, jointly organised by IDSC and the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
Ahmed Khalifa, chairman of Infosoft, a software company, had yet another story to tell of the "religious-looking man" who was boasting that he had "succeeded" in procuring pirated laser disks of the late Sheikh Metwalli El-Sha'rawi's sermons. "Imagine the irony of this God-fearing man being proud of an act, which basically meant stealing someone else's effort. But then piracy, at that level, is the outcome of a widespread conviction in the local market that stealing programmes is a normal thing."
Whether driven by IT fever sweeping the globe, or concern that flagrant software piracy needs to be combated, the government is wasting no time in joining hands with the IT industry to protect IPR. Top state officials are voicing the right discourse on the matter, while the cabinet is reviewing amendments intended to strengthen law no.38 of 1992 for IPR protection, prior to debating them in parliament.
Copyright legislation in Egypt includes laws dating back to the 1930s: law no.57 of 1939 on trademarks, no.132 of 1949 on patent rights and no.354 of 1954 for IPR protection, which was modified by law no.38 of 1992.
Their implementation, however, has fallen short of the stringent standards needed to fight rising levels of piracy. The amended law on the other hand, argues the Justice Ministry's Omar El-Sherif, was formulated as a result of Egypt's commitment to the GATT agreement in 1995 so as to be compatible with its article on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
In the past five months alone, "the number of registered applications increased from 21 in February to 47 in May which is a 120 per cent increase," Radwan said.
The IT scene received a boost following a speech by President Hosni Mubarak last November on the importance of developing Egypt's potential in this domain. A Communications and Information Technology Ministry has been established since then, and an ambitious IT plan drawn up with a legal committee formed to carry out the required legal procedures.
The government has also signed agreements promoting the widespread usage of PCs, with IBM and Microsoft providing subsidised software and computers for school and university students.
"The number of IT-oriented judges has increased tremendously, and (as a result of this new awareness), verdict procedures have been speeded in IPR cases," Justice Minister Farouk Seif-El-Nasr said.
The results of these developments are starting to be felt by software makers, and they have been substantial.
"Revenues have tripled," said Adel Khalifa, board member of a major software company. Those working in the field are anticipating that the benefits of IPR protection will be widespread. "We want society to benefit as well. We don't want to deny people access to software, but we want them to appreciate the amount of money and effort put into a computer programme, as well as the fact that programmers need to support households."
Those present agreed that the main cause of piracy is the assumption by perpetrators that what they are doing is not illegal. "Software looks small and thin, like CDs for example. IT isn't as big as TV sets or other expensive electronic equipment. They don't feel it's a crime," Khalifa said.
Related stories:
Piracy down -- 1-7 June 2000
Seeking one per cent -- 16-22 September 1999Related link:
Business Software Alliance
