The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents companies that produce and distribute more than 90 per cent of all recordings by Arab artists, together with the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the body that safeguards intellectual property rights of software developers worldwide, voiced concern over "rampant piracy in music and software in Kuwait during 2003".

Oil-rich Kuwait was named as having one of the highest levels of piracy within the Gulf states and the 14th worst record in the world.

"Out of the 35,000 PCs sold in 2003, only around 2,000 were uploaded with original software," in the emirate, according to industry figures cited in an official statement.

"The constantly high rate of music piracy in Kuwait is a setback in our efforts to protect the rights of the international, regional and local music producers in the region," said Willem van Adrichem, regional coordinator, anti-piracy enforcement, IFPI.

"The victims of music piracy include the artists whose creativity gets no reward, governments who lose hundreds of millions of tax revenues and economies that are deprived of new investment.

"It also acts as a brake on growth and jobs, besides consumers getting less diversity and less choice."

The statement noted that the Kuwait government has recently signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement with the United States which could be a first step to a free trade agreement.

The government also enacted a Copyright Law in 1999 that was put into effect in February 2000.

"We would like to commend these efforts which can give a new direction to the fight against piracy as the protection of Intellectual Property rights in Kuwait is clearly mentioned in the agreement," said Van Adrichem.

"The Gulf has made impressive strides in reducing software piracy in recent years and we would like to thank the various governments for their support in helping BSA conduct sustained campaigns against them," said BSA Kuwait's Mohammed al-Dallal.

"However, the lack of aggressive measures in Kuwait in this field has led to a rise in software piracy there, defeating our plan to bring about a general reduction in piracy levels across all countries in the region."

SPACE.WIRE