End to piracy in software can help create 32,000 jobs: AAA report
KARACHI- The elimination of piracy in the software industry could create around 32,000 jobs over the next five years and help in accelerating the economic growth in the country, said an international report.
The existing 90 percent piracy rate is blocking the software industry’s contribution to the employment creation, said the “Study on copyright losses in Pakistan”, released by the Arabian Anti-piracy Alliance (AAA).
The study estimated that 22.396 persons could get direct employment in the software industry by the year 2006, while there would be another 9,292 indirect jobs created in the upstream and downstream industries, including software houses, advertising companies, duplication services, packaging, value-added resellers, training and consultancy.
“The legal business software industry in Pakistan is still in its infant stage, mainly because of the excessive supply of pirated software in the market,” said the AAA, which is demanding of the governments to introduce legislation to strengthen the hand of law-enforcement agencies in the battle against piracy.
“A strong protection for intellectual property is a key factor in securing investment from software companies, both locally and from abroad, which, in turn, generates skilled jobs and tax revenues within the economy,” it added.
The report said that being an extremely profitable business, piracy devoured the profit margins of legal competition, forcing many to close legal businesses.
“This state of affairs is detrimental to the development and advancement of an economy in general and an industry inflicted with piracy in particular,” it said.
“When legal businesses are unable to recoup their investments in a high piracy environment, the result is a loss of confidence among business circles both inside and outside the economy,” it added.
“The foreign producers of reputable products are reluctant to manufacture their products in countries where piracy is rife, as they cannot rely on the weak enforcement of laws to protect their intellectual property rights,” the AAA report said.
The AAA is a cross industry body, representing some of the world’s best known brands and creative businesses in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).
Source: Business Recorder
Date:3/22/2003
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