21 - 27 June 2001
Issue No.539
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 June 2001 Issue No.539 |
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Can't pay, won't pay
Alaa Shahine follows the war against software piracy
"A few years ago, an engineer I know approached me and started criticising the laws protecting computer software. He considers programme prices unjustifiably high," recalls Ghada Khalifa, the Egypt director of Business Software Alliance (BSA), a group representing the world's biggest software manufacturers. "But when I asked him how much it would cost me to design a villa, he quoted me an astonishing figure, arguing that I would be paying for his creativity. He wants people to pay for his creativity while refusing to pay for the creativity of others!" Khalifa said.
Khalifa thinks that the lesson from this encounter is that combating software piracy in Egypt is not a matter of drawing up laws. "Egypt's current laws on software protection are satisfactory," she said, when asked about the new Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) draft law, supported by the Shura Council recently. "The problem has always been enforcement," she argues.
Law 38 of 1994 protects software in Egypt. This law, which will be strengthened by the new draft law, which is now before the People's Assembly, protects individual works for the lifetime of the author, and then for a further 50 years. Works by corporate bodies, such as companies and societies, are granted a 50-year protection period. Violators can be jailed for up to three years (minimum 24 hours) and/or fined at least LE5,000 for each pirated programme. Repeat offence makes imprisonment obligatory, in addition to a fine that can reach LE50,000.
As well as being under-enforced, Khalifa also thinks that the laws are used against the wrong people. "One of Egypt's problems is that authorities deal with computer software in the same way they deal with other works, such as video tapes. They strike against the sellers (of pirate software) and do not focus on the business-end user. This approach will not get them more than 20 per cent of the real pirates," she argues.
But Madkour Thabet, head of the Authority for Inspection of Artistic Works, denies that raids conducted by his inspectors target sellers primarily. "Our raids focus mainly on private sector companies and we regularly send thousands of letters warning them not to use pirated software," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. He also showed the Weekly a copy of a letter being sent to a company in Suez to validate his point.
While refusing to give his opinion on the new law, Thabet said that efforts put into new legislation should be paralleled by an effort to develop enforcement capabilities. "It is difficult to entrust me with fighting piracy nationwide while the authority I head has extremely modest capabilities, including at the human resources level," he said. "Fighting piracy requires large numbers of experienced and well-trained inspectors. We do not have this right now," he explained.
Nor does he show untrammelled delight at the new initiatives designed to improve the situation. Currently under consideration are training programmes organised by the BSA, but Thabet argues, "You cannot train a government employee in advanced technological methods and then give him the same low salary. He must to be rewarded adequately for the system to work."
Further obstacles to reducing piracy are the sheer cost of legitimate software and lack of awareness of other options. Many users complain that without piracy, exorbitant prices deprive them of the use of advanced computer applications. Last year, the Ministry of Higher Education and Microsoft (MS) signed a "Campus Agreement" for universities. The agreement licences both MS Office and MS Development tools to 100,000 students at only LE40 per copy, far less than its normal retail cost. "The Ministry of High Education set a shining example in teaching students how to respect copyright," commented Khalifa. She also described how, a few years ago, "Microsoft signed an agreement with several companies to provide computer companies with 10 MS Office licences, in addition to other programmes, for only LE1,000. But nobody was interested, except people raided by the police."
But when the Weekly informally surveyed 10 randomly chosen computer companies and Internet cafés, hardly any knew of such agreements. The managers also had scant knowledge of the legal situation. Only two companies said they knew anything about the currently debated copyright law, or any other agreement related to this field, though more knew of the Campus Agreement. The managers also emphasised the expense of new software. "We removed all unlicenced copies of MS Office and other unlicenced programmes from our computers," said one manager, before complaining, "We cannot afford original copies." Moustafa Fawzi, who runs an Internet café, said, "If you tell me that the copy is only LE1,000, I will believe you. But it is still expensive."
Yet despite all these misgivings, Egypt seems to be achieving something. According to the Business Software Alliance's annual global survey of software piracy, Egypt has shown a remarkable drop in piracy rates: from 75 per cent of all used software in 1999, to 56 per cent in 2000. That fall was the world's biggest. There was less financial loss from piracy, too: from US$33m in 1999 to US$12m in 2000. But Egypt still has some way to go: in the US, which has the world's most honest software users, only 25 per cent of software was pirated last year. The worst offender was Vietnam, which continues to lead the list of offending countries with a massive 97 per cent piracy rate. In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has the lowest piracy rate of 44 per cent.
According to BSA officials, Egypt's huge drop is due to the Campus Agreement.
But Khalifa feels there remains a need for vigilance. "Egypt still has to fight against piracy, and it takes more than laws and statutes," she said, stressing the need to make people aware of piracy's grave consequences. According to BSA one of the best ways of reducing piracy around the world is the amnesty system. BSA gives a limited grace period to all companies to "regularise their situation" before starting a wide inspecting campaign. "We do not have this power in Egypt and we hope the government will help us more in our efforts," Khalifa said.
But despite all these worries, Khalifa is upbeat about the situation. "If somebody had told me when I started this job in 1994 that Egypt's piracy rate would reach 56 per cent, I would have thought that they were joking. I am happy with this success and hope that everybody continues working to maintain what Egypt has achieved," she said.
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