Dec 13, 2012
AMMAN -- The National Library Department on Thursday announced the start of a campaign to crack down on private schools that use pirated software.
"Our teams will start touring private schools to check on their commitment to intellectual property rights (IPR) when it comes to the use of original software and legal measures will be taken against violators," NLD Director General Mohammad Abbadi told The Jordan Times on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Abbadi said NLD staff confiscated 150 computers from a private school in west Amman, all of which contained pirated software.
"We warned this school several times that they must use original software but they ignored our repeated warning," he said.
Similarly, during the campaign, other schools found using pirated software will be instructed to replace it with original software. If they do not comply, the NLD will confiscate PCs containing pirated material.
"We will also use all legal measures entrusted to us under the Jordanian Copyright Law," Abbadi said over the phone.
Meanwhile, he added, the NLD has referred more than 460 cases of IPR violations to the court since the beginning of the year.
The Jordanian Copyright Law stipulates that it is a crime to download software, music or movies that are protected under the legislation.
Offenders face a prison sentence of between three months and three years and a fine ranging from JD1,000 to JD6,000.
Software piracy in Jordan rose by 1 per cent in 2011, but the rate was still among the lowest in the region, according to a study by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
The Kingdom registered a 58 per cent software piracy rate in 2011, compared to 57 per cent in 2010 and 2009, according to the ninth annual BSA Global Software Piracy Study.
© Jordan Times 2012
