 |
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 23 - 29 November 2000 Issue No.509 
| ||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 23 - 29 November 2000 Issue No.509
| ||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Creativity's lifeline
By Simon Swale *
In most countries of the world, software piracy is regarded as a crime depriving developers of the rewards of spending hundreds, possibly thousands, of hours designing products to benefit business by making it more efficient and competitive.
Software piracy steals intellectual property rights, which not only affects multinational software companies but rather the whole of industry on the national, regional and global levels.
Piracy rates in the Middle East and Africa are approximately 63 per cent of total sales, costing the software industry some $284 million last year. Seven countries in the Middle East still appear on the list of the top 25 highest piracy-rated countries in the world.
Because pirates do not pay taxes, these high piracy rates detract substantially from tax revenues. Piracy does not only affect government revenues. It also leads to reduced investment by large multinational companies. This, in turn, means reduced opportunities for local publishers and developers to design compatible products and solutions.
That then leads to economic loss for the local business community, which is translated into decreased opportunity for new employment in upstream and downstream industries -- such as consultancy, distribution, marketing and PR. This brings us once again to reduced tax revenue.
The development of the software industry depends on skills and creative people which this region possesses in abundance. There is a huge opportunity for all Middle Eastern countries to position themselves as leaders in the development of IT.
What do we need to make IT flourish and help support business development in the Middle East? The cornerstone is effective copyright laws protecting intellectual property rights -- the life blood of this creative industry.
* Simon Swale Middle East and North Africa regional director of the Business Software Alliance, speaking to journalists on "The Legal Framework of Software Intellectual Property" Rights."
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
