Andre Yoskowitz
21 Jun 2008 20:48
Officials in the United Arab Emirates have said they are growing more and more concerned with the rising levels of piracy in the region despite its reputation as the region leader in anti-piracy practices.
Estimates say 35-38 percent of all software sold in the UAE is counterfeit and that the number of pirated goods sold has risen 52 percent year over year. According to a survey conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and global market research firm IDC, losses attributed to piracy rose to $94 million USD up from $62 million last year.
Overall software piracy in the Middle East rose to $2.45 billion, up 24 percent year on year.
In a similar announcement, the Ministry of Interior noted that arrests for software piracy had risen 107 percent year over year and that number seemed to be still growing.
"Software piracy is the easiest type of piracy because software is not tangible," said Ahmad Al Jasim, regional manager of Autodesk Middle East. According to Al-Jasim, Autodesk sees a 55 percent piracy rate in the region.
"Software is usually on a CD and because a company's knowledge is on this small storage device people can actually easily pirate it. The fakes come in mass volume, primarily from East Asia."
He concluded that piracy is very hard to stop, despite active anti-piracy media from the state and the software companies.
"Even if you catch some there's still more new pirates coming in every year...Then you try to catch them - it's a continuous cycle."