Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

MORE THAN half the computer software in Cyprus is pirated, which amounts to nearly £4.5 million in lost revenues for manufacturers.

Microsoft license compliance manager Aly Harakeh has been meeting officials from the police, customs and the Ministry of Commerce for discussions on how to deal with the problem and has also been involved in training the appropriate people in differentiating between counterfeit and authentic products.

The computer giant is a member of Business Software Alliance (BSA), the foremost organisation dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace.

BSA educates consumers on software management and copyright protection, cyber security, trade, e-commerce and other Internet-related issues.

Harakeh yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that there is a 53 per cent piracy rate in Cyprus, which is way above the rest of Western Europe.

Thirty-five per cent of the software installed on personal computers worldwide was pirated in 2004. Losses due to piracy increased to $33 billion.

“In Cyprus, $9 million is lost annually, which is a substantial figure for a small country,” Harakeh said.

“The government loses out on VAT, there are less employment opportunities and local investment is lost. The fight against piracy also benefits the original creators of software that see the fruits of their labour illegally taken advantage of by others.

“The best thing the government in Cyprus did was to increase the punishment. Anyone knowingly distributing or having in possession unauthorised copies of software is liable to a fine of £30,000, which rises to £35,000 for repeat offenders. Jail sentences of up to three years are also available to the authorities.”

The police no longer need a warrant to enter premises and to proceed with checks regarding the operation of private or unlicensed products, something that is a powerful weapon against all those involved in the illegal activity.

Harakeh added that a shop that assembles and sells PCs was yesterday busted in the on-going police clampdown. Over 400,000 pirated CDs and DVDs, software, video games, movies and music have recently been confiscated from kiosks and shops.

“However, there is no national anti-piracy campaign here and a partnership between the private and public sectors to promote intellectual property rights is needed.”

According to the BSA website, “a person’s responsibility as a software user is to purchase only original computer programs and use software only as provided in the accompanying license agreement. You should be aware that it is generally illegal to purchase a single set of software and to load it onto more than one computer or to rent, copy or distribute the software or its manuals. When purchasing software, make sure to buy only legitimate products. Many counterfeit packaged products are designed to look identical to original manufacturer’s products but are illegally made.

Buy software from authorised channels and ensure you have a license agreement and that you get original diskettes or CD’s and that you have obtained the user manuals and registration information.

“If you use counterfeit or copied software, you may face exposure to viruses, incomplete documentation, missing help files, corrupted disks and defective software.”

“Pirates aren’t known for their customer satisfaction and quality control,” Harakeh said.

[Sotos]

The police no longer need a warrant to enter premises and to proceed with checks regarding the operation of private or unlicensed products, something that is a powerful weapon against all those involved in the illegal activity.

WHAT??? So the police can come in my house and search on my computer without even a warrant????????

[TheCabbie]

I remember not being able to buy original software in Cyprus, ain't progress great?

[devil]

“Pirates aren’t known for their customer satisfaction and quality control,” Harakeh said.

Microsoft, Corel, Symantec, IBM, Sun Microsystems etc aren’t known for their customer satisfaction and quality control, either, so what's the difference?

Some time ago, I bought a computer which had XP Pro installed. I found out, some weeks later, after I'd installed many proggies, been using it intensively and downloaded a mountain of data, that the XP was pirated (it would not accept SP1). I tackled the vendor (who said I'd been the first to complain) who, after a time, much argument and a threat to denounce him, provided me with an OEM disk. Believe it or not, it was impossible to install it or to simply change the Product Key to the correct one, claiming that I could not change the type of OS. I contacted MS to find out the whys and the wherefores. The only thing they wanted to know was the name of the vendor (which I didn't give them) and they had no interest in the fact that I could not install a legit copy, even though I had gone out of my way to regularise a situation into which I had inadvertently fallen, through no fault of my own. In the end, I had to reformat the C: drive to install the legit copy and then reinstall everything and re-download all the data, 3 days work. Is this an incentive to go for legit software?

[Sotos]

devil, there is a work around those pirated XP issues. Piracy is bad of course but privacy is also important. They should hunt down those that mass copy and sell the software not the users that might not even know if the software is original or not!

[cypezokyli]

if the office costs 150€ and you can get it from a friend...the choise is not that difficult i guess.

[reclaimjack]

try office org its free

[Sotos]

There are several office suits that are free now. If you use Linux you can have everything including the software for free. Not the best games though.

[marnic]

How do you expect from people to buy original dvds when some dvd club overcharge you and some who don't overcharge you let you copy dvds? I know a dvd club in Ag.Dometios that let you copy dvds for only 50 cent/day but the quality is not good as it shrinks it to dvd format 5 instead of 9. And i know another one who can make you a copy dvd for 6 pounds and it only costs him less than a pound.

The dvd clubs in Cyprus and in Greece too don't pay rights. So you shouldn't have to pay 1 pound/day. A dvd like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" will rent like crazy for over a month.

And more, how can you afford to buy all the dvds you like when they cost 20 pounds each? Why in the States you can buy them for 10 dollars? And it is not the shipping as they are made in Europe and most in Greece.

So i guess the police should first go to the dealers, then to the dvd clubs and last to the customers.

[b0g]

It should be 100% .