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Dubai: There exists a shortcut to make China's IT workforce the largest in the world - surpassing the US - and make Russia a bigger information technology market than India. According to research firm IDC, a 10 per cent reduction in piracy will do the trick.
The research firm says a 10 percentage point drop in average software piracy rate worldwide to 25 per cent from the current 35 per cent would create 600,000 new jobs, $141 billion in economic growth and $24 billion in tax revenues in just over four years.
"The damage caused by software piracy is extensive. The illegal nature of these activities has led to economic losses of more than $40 billion.
"These losses are not confined to wealthier econ-omies, but are increasingly undercutting the economic performance of local entrepreneurs in developing economies who struggle to compete with the large number of cheap counterfeit goods in local markets," says David Finn, Microsoft's associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Finn says representatives from government and business circles should join forces and harness the growing political will to tackle the mounting problem of counterfeiting and piracy across the globe.
Microsoft has successfully worked with the UAE Government to promote the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and to create awareness of how software piracy hurts the local economy.
"The UAE's piracy rate, for example, stood at around 90 per cent 15 years ago, but now it stands at 35 per cent.
"It happened because the government here passed strong law and continued its will to make changes in the law to keep up with the times. It also committed its will to enforce the law as it is critical and create awareness about what piracy does to economy," says Finn.
He says the UAE has strengthened its enforcement and awareness campaign by actively supporting relevant programmes directed at combating software counterfeiting and other forms of software piracy into a single coordinated effort.
Governments in many developing countries are increasingly acknowledging the fact that it is in their own national interest to introduce legislation that protects intellectual property rights, and to develop efficient mechanisms for enforcement.
"In our capacity as a member of the Business Software Alliance [BSA], Microsoft will help governments and private firms to work together to reduce piracy and thereby improve the climate for sustainable economic growth," he says.
However, illicit organisations, says Finn, are also taking advantage of the IT market's phenomenal growth by intensifying cross-border counterfeit operations. He says members of the international community must therefore act together to determine how best to battle the criminal syndicates behind much of the global piracy problem.
"IPR is the lifeblood of many economies and a place like the UAE where non-oil sector is playing a key role in driving the economy, protecting IP rights will be a key part of that diversity," says Finn.
IDC said in a report that a 10 point reduction in piracy rate could make China's IT workforce the largest in the world, surpassing the US, and make Russia a bigger IT market than India.
Of the 600,000 new jobs that would be created globally - 435,000 would be in Asia, which has high piracy rates and therefore the most room to reduce them.
China and Vietnam have piracy rates of 82 and 88 per cent respectively. Reducing piracy in Asia by 10 percentage points in four years would generate more than $40 billion in economic growth and more than $5 billion in tax revenues.
For every $1 spent on a legitimate packaged software, an additional $1.25 is spent on related services such as software installation, training personnel and maintenance services, the report says.
"Most countries need to update their laws to deal with the internet use and technical protection of copyright material. So far, more than 65 countries have ratified the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) treaties, including Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Qatar and the UAE in the Middle East. Most countries have also ratified the Berne Convention," Finn says.
IPR is the lifeblood of many economies and in a place like the UAE where the non-oil sector is playing a key role in driving the economy, protecting IP rights will be a key part of that diversity."
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