Participants at a workshop in Riyadh Wednesday urged strict implementation of anti-piracy laws as Saudi Arabia has lost SR700 million due to the infringement of software copyright laws in 2007. Mohammad Al-Ahmad, License Compliance Manager, Microsoft Saudi Arabia while giving a presentation in a one-day workshop on Violation of Intelligence Property Law said: “In 2007 alone the losses to Saudi economy due to the violations of software copyright laws touched $170 million (SR700 million).” Other speakers in the workshop were Ibrahim Al-Nafeesa, an Administrative Department official of Ministry of Culture and Information and Muhammad Al-Dhahban, lawyer and representative of Business Software Alliance (BSA) in Saudi Arabia. In his presentation on piracy of software Al-Ahmad said the software copyright violations are taking place at various levels that included Internet, software reseller outlets and through loading of unlicensed software programs into the computer hard disks and availability of counterfeit software programs on CDs on prices cheaper than the original programs. The piracy of software programs is taking place by end-users, who usually buy one original licensed software program and then copy it illegally to a number of PCs, he said. Piracy of software programs downloaded through Internet was also reported, he said. Al-Dhahban said the infringement of software laws are rampant in the Kingdom because the benefits are far more than the punishment imposed on a copyright violator. He however, said of late the Saudi authorities have started imposing strict penalties on copyright violators that would deter them to think twice before violating the laws. In March this year Al-Dhahban had told a press conference that BSA filed a first damage claim worth SR5 million against a Saudi firm involved in the infringement of copyright law in the Kingdom. BSA is the official representative organization for international software development companies operating in Saudi Arabia. Al-Nafeesa said the Ministry has increased monitoring of situation by enforcing laws in different cities of the Kingdom. Meanwhile, BSA in cooperation with Saudi Journalists Association has launched a SR200,000 prize for best coverage of anti-piracy laws in the Kingdom. The prize that started from April 26 would run through June 30 and a prize money for both in print and electronic media will be SR100,000 each to be given to winners of the prize. __
