The Egyptian performance in combating piracy was the most impressive in the world last year, with the country's piracy rate dropping from 75 percent in 1999 to 56 percent last year, a report by the Software Business Alliance (BSA) said.
The report, published last week, was part of the sixth annual benchmark survey on global software piracy, said the weekly Middle East Times.
The independent study highlights the serious impact of copyright infringement, with piracy losses exceeding $11.7 billion worldwide in 2000.
The independent research company, International Planning Research Corp. (IRP), conducted the survey for BSA, saying that the piracy estimates indicate that more than one in every three business software applications was pirated in 2000 on the international level, according to the weekly.
“In Egypt, the overall piracy losses dropped from $33.2 million in 1999 to $12.2 million in 2000,” said the report.
According to the weekly, the breakthrough in Egypt was attributed to the agreement between the ministry of education and Microsoft in which the latter had provided Egyptian university students with a number of programs including Windows and Office for lower prices in a bid to raise awareness of intellectual property rights amongst young people.
A similar agreement was ratified between Microsoft and the ministries of communication and foreign affairs.
The highest piracy rates in the Arab world were in Lebanon, 83 percent; Qatar, 81 percent; and both Bahrain and Kuwait, 80 percent, said the BSA report.
The United Arab Emirates had the lowest piracy rate among the Arab countries – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
