The Business Software Alliance (BSA) concluded its annual members' meeting yesterday, where it reviewed the accomplishments of the past year and discussed its plans to move ahead with copyright awareness and promotion campaigns in the different regional markets.
This year's highlight was the drop in software piracy, where the Middle East recorded the world's largest decrease in illegal software rates, down six percent to 51 percent in 2001. BSA regional director Jawad Al-Redha also informed members about projected awareness activities, stating that the focus in the coming months would be on reducing illegal software usage in small to medium companies.
“A large percentage of small to medium companies in the region remain pirate sites” said Al-Redha, “which means that they are using illegal software, or have only licensed part of their applications. Our focus for the coming year will be to educate these companies about proper licensing policy, and at the same time, rally governments' support in implementing intellectual property laws against those who choose not to comply with software user licenses.”
Government support also ranked high on the agenda, where Al-Redha discussed the implementation activities undertaken in the past year by regional authorities.
BSA is an international organization representing leading software and e-commerce developers in 65 countries around the world. Established in 1988, BSA has offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. As the "voice" of the software industry, the BSA helps governments and consumers understand how software strengthens the economy, worker productivity and global development; and how its further expansion hinges on the successful fight against software piracy and Internet theft. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
