Software Piracy is still dominant in the Middle East. Two out of every three computers in Kuwait still use illegal software despite a 2 percent decline in software piracy in 2006, Kuwait Times reported on Sunday.

Citing a statement issued by U.S.-based Business Software Alliance (BSA), the report said much more needs to be done by Kuwait to reduce the 2006 piracy rate of 64 percent, including public awareness initiatives and the creation of “strong and workable” local anti-piracy laws.

However, the group meanwhile pointed out that software piracy in Kuwait “experienced a 2 percent decrease between 2005 and 2006, protecting more than 5 million U.S. dollars in software revenue.”

Kuwait was one of 15 Mideast countries to experience a decrease in piracy rates in 2006, the Times quoted BSA as saying.

Losses from software piracy in the Mideast totaled almost 2 billion dollars in 2006, an increase of 382 million from 2005, it added.

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NSW Police has seized more than 5000 optical disks in a piracy raid in Ballina on the state’s north coast.

Two brothers were allegedly producing counterfeit copies of Microsoft Windows and Office software, games and music, reselling them nationwide via the Internet.

Microsoft, Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) and Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) assisted police in uncovering the piracy ring. Microsoft Australia’s intellectual property director, Vanessa Hutley, said selling counterfeits via the Internet has significantly changed the rules.

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The four countries with the biggest percentage declines in piracy were China, where 86% of all software sold is pirated, down 4 percentage points from the 90% of 2004; Russia, down 4 percentage points to a piracy rate of 83%; Ukraine, down 6 percentage points to a piracy rate of 85%, and Morocco, down 4 percentage points to a piracy rate of 68%.By contrast, the

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Widening its war on copyright pirates, the Bush administration asked Congress on Thursday to enact new laws for protecting intellectual property and make it easier for authorities to put violators behind bars.

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– A change in the law that would recognize a copyright in a criminal case before it is filed with the Register of Copyrights so authorities don’t have to prove that thousands of works pirated over the Internet are all copyrighted;

– Expand the forfeiture and restitution requirements so that equipment, goods, records and other items used or intended for use in piracy are forfeited to the government and to hold pirates criminally libel for restitution for damages to the rights-holder;

– Make it a crime to attempt to infringe a copyright;

– Increase the amount of jail time for repeat offenders;

– Clarify that importing and exporting infringed goods is illegal;

– Allow authorities to obtain a wiretap for suspects in intellectual property crimes.

Full article: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001477589

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Software and music piracy is not only common in Asia but also in North America.?‚?  Canada is now suffering from epidemic software and music piracy rates.?‚?  Hundreds of millions of dollars are being stolen daily in Canada.?‚?  Worldwide legal digital revenues have jumped from zero to 6% of record company revenues globally in the last two years. In sharp contrast, digital revenues make-up less than 1% of record company sales in Canada.

The former Liberal government introduced beefed-up copyright legislation last year, but the bill never made it to a vote due to the election campaign. The current Tory government has not said whether it plans to revive the legislation.

Full Article:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117939142.html?categoryid=19&cs=1&nid=2570

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Microsoft is against software piracy, but they say that if you are going to steal it is better to steal from Microsoft. Jeff Raikes , a Microsoft executive ,stated that “If they’re going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else,” .

He also added that “We understand that in the long run the fundamental asset is the installed base of people who are using our products. What you hope to do over time is convert them to licensing the software.”

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The 2006 BSA Piracy Study reveals that 35% of the software installed in 2006 on personal computers (PCs) worldwide was obtained illegally, amounting to nearly $40 billion in global losses due to software piracy.

Progress was seen in a number of emerging markets, most notably in China, where the piracy rate dropped ten percentage points in three years, and in Russia, where piracy fell seven percentage points over three years.

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