Computer users given one month to get licensed software
KARACHI, April 18 2006: The Business Software Alliance (BSA) will launch a month-long ‘software grace period’ allowing companies, organisations and individuals to install licensed software without facing penalties for the past infringement of copyright act. “The organisations and individuals who participate in the campaign and get the licensed software installed in their computers will be exempted from any sort of penalty for copyright violations,” Co-Chairman of BSA, Middle East, and Jawad Al-Redha said on Monday at a press conference.
“The grace period will start from April 20 across the country and end on May 20, 2006,” he mentioned. He further said that throughout the month-long grace period the businesses would receive information from BSA about participation in the campaign. He said that the violation of piracy laws also discourages local and giant international software companies from investing in Pakistan, killing numerous jobs and creativity. “The protection of intellectual property rights in the country would help in increasing an IT-friendly atmosphere and attract more local and foreign investment in the software sector,” Al-Redha said
He added that the western and many of the developing countries have developed their software industry by enforcing strict anti-piracy laws to protect the intellectual property rights of their software producers. But the software piracy is a serious issue in Pakistan. According to him, the global software piracy figures depict that 82 per cent of software used in the country is illegal, which means that more than eight in ten businesses use non-licensed or illegal software.
He also ensured that during this period no strict action would be taken against companies and co-operate sectors, which previously used pirated software and now got the licensed software installed in their PCs. The purpose of this exercise is that BSA wants to reduce the piracy rate in Pakistan, he said.
Source: The News
Date:4/18/2006
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