AMMAN - Intellectual property rights (IPR) protection is key to creating jobs and stimulating economic growth in the region, Arab experts said on Sunday.
During the opening of the First Regional Conference for IPR and Cyber Crimes yesterday, officials concerned with IPR said hundreds of millions of dollars are lost due to the pirating of software, CDs and DVDs in the Arab word.
"Companies, people and governments lose as a result of software piracy and IPR violations. Governments do not get revenues in taxes and customs, companies sell less and there are less jobs for people," Jawad Al Redha, co-chairman of Business Software Alliance (BSA) Gulf Region, told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the conference.
Inaugurating the conference yesterday, Minister of Justice Hisham Tal stressed the importance of safeguarding IPR to encourage innovations in all fields.
He stressed that there are several laws in Jordan that protect IPR, adding that the Kingdom is signatory to several agreements in this regard.
The minister noted that Jordan has recently issued a Cyber Crimes Law which protects individuals and entities from such crimes and is making strides in combating software piracy.
"It is the responsibility of governments, companies and civil society organisations to combat piracy and protect IPR as that will support economic growth," he said.
Mustafa M. Mustafa, CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Jordan, underlined the importance of protecting IPR in creating a business-friendly climate.
He noted that the Kingdom has not been listed in the Special 301 Report, the US watch list of global IPR violations, since 2000.
"Jordan has attracted investments from all over the world and is constantly working on increasing and developing its exports. If there isn't a strong IPR protection environment, the business climate will be negatively affected," he said during the conference.
Abdallah Saqqa, general manager for Adobe Systems Middle East and North Africa, agreed.
He noted that there is a need to enhance Arab cooperation in combating software piracy.
Many companies and individuals in the region are unaware of the dangers of using pirated software, Saqqa said, adding that unoriginal copies negatively impact productivity.
Experts called for awareness campaigns to educate the public on the risks of violating IPR and for stronger enforcement of legislation and protecting IPR and combating software piracy.
In 2009, over four out of 10 software programmes installed on personal computers around the world were stolen, with a commercial value of more than $51 billion, according to a BSA study.
Reducing the piracy rate of PC software by 10 percentage points - 2.5 points per year for four years - would create $142 billion in new economic activity while adding nearly 500,000 new high-tech jobs and generating roughly $32 billion in new tax revenues by 2013, according to the study.
Also during the conference, National Library Department (NLD) acting director general Mohammad Abbadi said the department has referred 3,333 IPR violations to the judiciary since 2000.
The two-day conference is organised by the BSA in cooperation with the NLD and Adobe Systems.
By Mohammad Ghazal
© Jordan Times 2010
