Number of seized pirated items drops by 33%

AMMAN — The National Library Department (NLD) confiscated around 20,000 pirated DVDs, CDs and books in the first quarter of 2014, a 33 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2013, NLD Director General Mohammad Abbadi said on Thursday.

“The drop in the number of confiscated items is attributed to a huge decline in pirated music DVDs and CDs on display at stores… A majority of people have smartphones and download songs on their devices,” Abbadi told The Jordan Times.

“What we also noticed since the beginning of this year is that the number of movie DVDs and CDs available at stores has declined sharply as people can easily download movies from the Internet, which also caused a decline in the number of seized items,” he explained.

The majority of available pirated CDs and DVDs at present are PlayStation games, according to Abbadi.

During the first quarter of this year, the NLD referred 120 cases of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations to court, he said.

Meanwhile, Abbadi announced that 80 per cent of private sector organisations, schools and associations had “rectified their situation” and now use original software.

“This percentage is higher than any other country in the region. The fact that 80 per cent of private sector entities rectified their situation and use original software will play a key role in reducing the software piracy rate in Jordan for this year,” the NLD director general noted.

Warning against the use of pirated software, Abbadi said it poses several risks to businesses and individuals.

In a statement e-mailed to the Jordan Times Thursday, Microsoft Jordan said enterprises worldwide are expected to spend nearly $500 billion in 2014 to deal with issues caused by malware deliberately loaded onto pirated software, citing a joint study conducted by the International Data Corporation and the National University of Singapore.

The study — titled “The Link Between Pirated Software and Cybersecurity Breaches” — also revealed that 60 per cent of consumers surveyed say their greatest fear from infected software is the loss of data, files or personal information, followed by unauthorised Internet transactions (51 per cent) and hijacking of e-mail, social networking and bank accounts (50 per cent). 

The study was released as part of Microsoft’s “Play It Safe” campaign, a global initiative launched annually on March 19 to create greater awareness of the connection between malware and piracy.

It indicated that 43 per cent of the survey respondents do not install security updates, leaving their computers open to attacks by cybercriminals.

According to the NLD, the government loses about JD5 million annually in revenues, as traders of pirated items do not pay taxes or fees.

Software piracy in Jordan currently stands at 58 per cent, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Information Technology Report.

The Jordanian Copyright Law stipulates that it is a crime to download software, music or movies that are protected under the legislation.

Offenders face a prison sentence of between three months and three years and a fine ranging from JD1,000 to JD6,000.