Pirating of computer products fell 56 percent last year in comparison with 19 percent the year before, reported the Egyptian Gazette on Wednesday.
The campaigns launched by the concerned authority in this regard have helped computer companies to bring down their financial losses substantially, said the paper.
They fell from $33.2 million in 1999 to $12.2 million in the year 2000, it added.
Meanwhile, the paper said that computer companies were calling for more measures to be taken in order to stop piracy, which they say threaten the 1 billion pound ($255 million) investments in computer and information technology industry.
They indicate that the threat comes mostly from the Arab countries that do not apply intellectual property rights protection measures.
"Protection of intellectual property rights tops the agenda of the ministry of communications and information technology. This is done through strict controls and constant inspections on the information technology clubs it had opened, totaling about 120 clubs," said advisor to the minister of communications and information technology for human resources development and training, Ekram Abdul-Gawad.
Interviewed by a business daily, Gawad was quoted as saying that those clubs founded in many provinces had contributed to the protection efforts against computer piracy as they offered their services at a reasonable cost to all classes of society.
The head of the Software and IT Chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Sayed Ismail, warned in the same report that pirating of software products by local companies constituted a threat to the Egyptian computer companies, said the paper.
"If it continues at the same rate, investors will refrain from putting their capital in the industry and existing investors...will not seek development unless due protection is provided, because pirated software inflicts considerable losses on these companies," he said – Albawaba.com
