Sultan, a university computer science student, bought a counterfeit copy of software that he needed to complete his graduation project from a copyright pirate. “An original copy costs more than SR2,000 and I cannot afford that as it is more than my monthly grant. So I had no choice but to deal with someone selling pirated software,” Sultan explained. Sameer Khalid, who also buys pirated software, was clear when he said, “I buy the latest movies and video games from the pirates in Al-Balad District. They provide me with these CDs at a cheap price and with high quality.” Medo, as he wanted to be called, explained that the high prices of original DVD movies and other software are the main reason for people buying counterfeit goods. The software pirates can buy blank DVDs for a couple of riyals, copy some material, and make a nice profit by selling them for ten or twenty riyals, he said. The pirates usually conduct their business in well-known places like Al-Balad and Qabil Street in Jeddah or roam around cafes in the northern part of the city especially on Thursday and Friday evenings. The pirates, however, feel that they are doing nothing wrong since, as they say, there are more dangerous counterfeit goods around. They also admit that their “business” does not cost them much and only requires them to keep abreast of the latest movies and computer games. Dr. Hussain Sindi, professor of computer science at King Abdulaziz University, said, “Protecting intellectual rights is an important part of the development movement. It helps improve different economic sectors, especially information technology.” He pointed out that it is society's responsibility to increase public awareness of the importance of intellectual and ownership rights.
