Coinciding with the visit of IIPA President
BSA Announces the First Damage Claim of
SR 5 MILLION against an IPR Pirate Company
Business Software Alliance (BSA), the official organization representing international software development companies operating in Saudi Arabia, announced today that one of its members filed a damage claim against a Saudi firm which infringed the Copyright Law.
The lawyer and BSA representative in the Kingdom, Mohammed Aldhabaan, stated in a press conference held last night in Riyadh, "BSA in Saudi Arabia has been working hard to curb piracy in the Kingdom. High level of software piracy harms the national economy and cause right holders immense losses amounting to an estimated US$ 200 million annually."
Majed Garoub, the lawyer appointed by one of the leading software publishers to represent it in anti-piracy cases, said, "This is the first of many damage claims his client intends to file against firms and companies who infringe the copyright law. The objective is to protect the national economy from piracy's harmful effects". Garoub concluded, "We achieved considerable progress working with the concerned authorities to win the confidence of investors and encourage them to come and invest in Saudi Arabia. Protecting intellectual property rights will certainly prompt such companies to invest in the Kingdom and thus generate new income sources for the national economy".
At the end of the conference, the BSA spokesman in Saudi Arabia said that the alliance was pleased with the visit of the IIPA President, Eric Smith, to the Kingdom to discuss with authorities improved enforcement against piracy of software, movies, music, and games Pay TV.”
The damage claim, which called for the amount of SR 5 million, increasing penalties and imprisonment terms, and cancellation of commercial registrations, follows the decision of the Ministry of Culture & Information to form a committee entrusted with examining infringement of the copyright law. The claim also culminates a BSA media and advertising campaign to educate the community on piracy's grave dangers, caution pirates against continuing their practices, and protect consumers and the rights software manufacturing companies.
Al Bawaba
