Piracy

The act of making illegal copies of video tapes, computer programs, books, etc, in order
to sell them.

Literature Review;

Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law
jurisdictions and first recognized in France and Germany, before they were included in
the Berne Convention for the Protection of literally and Artistic Works in 1928. Some of
the moral rights are copyright, patent, trademarks, industrial design rights, utility models,
geographical indication, trade secrets, related rights, trade names and domain names.1

Intellectual property is an intangible property, which, against other forms of property,

cannot be defined or identified by its own physical parameters. Four separate and distinct
types of intangible property; namely, patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets
collectively are referred to as intellectual property.2

A license is a permission to use a resource claimed under intellectual property laws, often
against a royalty fee. ‘Piracy’ is an industry label for the unauthorized use of that
resource.3

Pakistan is a member of the Berne Convention on copyrights and the World Intellectual
Property Rights Organization (WIPO), but is not a member of Paris Convention for
protection of intellectual property.4

Pirated products are sold in almost all the economies of the world but its consumption is
different. For example, automotive parts market in Middle East and pharmaceuticals in
Africa. Piracy of music, movies and software appears to be significant in all economies,
especially developing countries.5
1
: Peter E. Berlowe, Laura J. Berlowe-Heinish, and Peter A. Koziol, 81 Fla. Bar J. 30
(2007)
2
: Lawrence R. Hefter and Robert D.Litowitz, ‘What is Intellectual Property’? US State
Department Study, at www.us.gov.ipr.htm.
3
Martin Kretschmer, Issue Paper for SSRC “Intellectual Property, Markets, and Cultural
Flows” New York, 24-25 October 2003
4
: European Commission’s market Access Sectoral and trade Barriers database. See Pakistan-
IPR Related Measures at http//www.europa.eu.int

5
John Dryden ,Deputy Director for Science, Technology and Industry, OECD, Paris,
Third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy 30-31 January 2007,
International Conference Center, Geneva

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The higher price earning ratio gives rise to demand of pirated products which gives rise
to a black market opportunity and raises expected profit for smugglers and distributors of
pirate products. The higher level of piracy market share is due to expected profits in the
market. Higher the level of corruption, and black market activity, higher the level of
piracy.6
Economic inequality is important variable to have negatively affected national piracy
rate. Effective Judicial system of a country also affects piracy rate but they are not the
only factors which affect piracy rate.7

Higher costs of original software are compelling towards piracy. The cost of original
product has the key factor in using pirated products.8

The high prices of foreign books are the main cause of piracy in Pakistan. Preventing
piracy can only be a success until low priced books are available to local readers.9

Four indicators which may have significant impact on piracy are

1. economic,
2. technical,
3. regulatory, and
4. social/cultural
But these are not the only factors which determine piracy. Furthermore countries
which have less corruption rate have low rate of piracy. Factors such as strong
economic growth, low trade regulations, high uncertainty avoidance, low Internet use,
better ICT laws, and strong IT infrastructure had partial influence on low piracy.
The study explains 78% (1996) to 84% (2001) to 83% (2003) of increase in software
piracy data. Economic factor is not the only factor which determines high piracy rate as
piracy is prevalent in more developed counties as well. Social structures and attitudes
should also be changed in order to decrease piracy.10

Presentation for the Third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, 30-31
January 2007, International Conference Center, Geneva, Switzerland.
Text shortened for delivery. It will be available on the OECD web site at
www.oecd.org/sti/counterfeiting.
6
: Papadopoulos, Theo, (2003) "Determinants of International Sound Recording Piracy."
Economics Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 10 pp. 1−9, August 7, 2003.
7
: Andrés, Antonio Rodríguez, Applied Economics Letters pp. 101-105(5), Volume 13, Number
2, Number 2/10 February 2006 ,
8
: Eric Kin-wai Lau, Factors motivating people toward pirated software, Qualitative Market
Research: An International Journal Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Year: 2006
9
: Khalid Mahmood, Muhammad Ilyas , IFLA Journal, Vol. 31, No. 4, Pp:324-332
(2005)
10
Kallol Bagchi, Peeter Kirs, and Robert Cerveny, COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM
June 2006/Vol. 49, No. 6

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The global software piracy study, conducted annually for the last decade by the Business
Software Alliance, a trade group, showed a worldwide rate of 36 percent last year,
amounting to a loss for the software industry of $29 billion11.

It’s not really difficult to supply pirates with legitimate products at cheap prices
legitimizes the pirate networks; turning pirates into conventional points of purchase
(POP). This benefits all parties and provides a new, yet established, outlet. Time Warner
and Twentieth Century Fox have both met with success having implemented this scheme
in China, though the inability to find legitimate Western DVDs and the low wages in
China have also been influential factors.12

Audiocassette piracy and book piracy (mainly photocopying of medical texts,

Computer books, and business titles, but also including reprints piracy and commercial
photocopying) continue to cause serious commercial harm to copyright owners in
Pakistan. For example, pirate audiocassettes sell for as little as seven cents in Pakistan;
not surprisingly, it becomes difficult in the face of such pirate prices to develop a
legitimate local market. Piracy of international and regional (Indian) sound recordings
continues to be nearly 100%, while the overall rate of piracy is estimated at 90% (no
change from 1999). U.S. publishers report that the piracy situation in Pakistan continues
to plague legitimate sales as the problem of illegal reprinting and commercial piracy of
scientific, technical and medical titles increases. Computer and business books also
continue to be popular with the pirates.13

Pakistan has become one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of pirated optical
discs (CDs, DVDs, VCDs, and CD-ROMs) of copyrighted sound recordings, motion
pictures, business and entertainment software and published materials. Eight known
facilities in Pakistan produced upwards of 180 million discs in 2003, nearly all illegal;
most are being exported around the world to at least 46 other countries. Book piracy also
remains a serious problem in Pakistan, and other types of piracy (e.g., end-user piracy of
business software) must be addressed by the government.14

Methodology

11
: Chris Oakes, International herald tribune Business, THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2004
12
The Wysiwyg Team, Www. wysiwygfilms.com, Wednesday, May 16th, 2007
13
IIPA GSP Petition on Pakistan June 13, 2001 Page 6
14
IIPA Press Release on USTR 2003 GSP Review Results, page 2

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We conducted a survey (see end of the document) to find out that, “what are the
perceptions of students and faculty members in Peshawar about piracy”. For this purpose
we formulated a questionnaire and conducted some interviews. Questionnaire was
formulated in such a manner that respondents were given full freedom to express their
ideas. Questions were mostly based on morality of piracy and causes of piracy.
Interview was conducted primarily from faculty members and a few students as well.
Questionnaire was distributed among 40 Students faculty members in 3 different
universities of Peshawar in which 36 students returned back the questionnaire.

Results and implications

1. When the students were asked about their idea about piracy, majority of them
(students) had the idea that what piracy is? 77% among the respondents replied
with yes and the remaining 16% did not have any idea about piracy while 6% of
them left the question unanswered.
2. Most of the students and faculty members make decisions of purchasing new
book or software, keeping price, quality and availability in their mind.
11% decide purchasing of book or software on price, 19% on quality, 11% on
availability and 58.9% take decision keeping price, quality and availability of
books and soft wares.
3. 16.7% did not find any difference in pirated products(books and software) and
original products(books and software) and 75% reported that there is a huge
difference in the use and quality of pirated and original books and software
4. 63% preferred use of pirated products (books and software) over original products
(books and software) justifying their views by pointing towards low prices of
pirated products (books and software). 11% of them were of the view that when
both original products (books and software) and pirated products (books and
software) can serve the same purpose then why to purchase expensive original
products (books and software). Only 22% preferred using original products
(books and software).
5. 72% of the total respondents were not satisfied from pirated (books and software)
but they do buy it because it’s easy to purchase. Only 19% were satisfied from the
use of pirated books and CDs.
6. 58% of the respondents wanted pirated products (books and software) to be
allowed by the government while only 14% wanted pirated books and CDs to be
banned. 16% wanted product (books and software) s to be banned with the
condition that prices of original products (books and software) should be lowered.
7. 28% thought that piracy is a business while 60% considered it as a crime and
crime can not be a business.
8. Majority of the respondents i.e. 50% were having pirated Microsoft Windows
installed on their PC while 20% were using genuine Microsoft Windows and the
remaining 30% refrained to answer.
9. 67% of the respondents did not believe that there is any sort of penalty or
punishment regarding piracy while 22% think that there is proper legislation but
proper implementation is needed.

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10. The factors which are causing piracy and compelling consumers to use pirated
books and software’s were:
i. It’s a business and is making huge profits. (19.44% )
ii. Original products (books and software) not available in market.

(22.77%)
iii. Prices are very high that’s why people are compelled to purchase
pirated products (books and software). (20%)
iv. Government taxes levied on import of original software and
books increases the prices compelling consumer to purchase
pirated products (books and software). (14%)
v. No idea about this issue. (14%)
11. 56.56% of respondents were in favor of punishment and penalty on piracy while
only 33% opposed punishment in this regard. They are argued that awareness
among the people is needed.
12. 48% regarded piracy as a threat to creativity of both readers and writers. 19%
thought that it has nothing to do with creativity of anybody. 11% did not answered
while 11% were of the opinion that piracy is deeply discouraging the writers.
13. When we asked about the general public attitude towards piracy 8% reflected that
we should stop purchasing pirated books. 11% were in favor of awareness
program to be launched among the masses. 39% thought that government should
implement its laws to stop piracy. 6% were of the opinion that both
implementation of law as well as awareness program should be conducted.

Conclusion

From our study, we conclude that students in Peshawar do have idea of pirated
products and piracy. Majority of the students and faculty members are not
satisfied with using pirated products (books and software). They usually face
problems while using them (books and software). But still they prefer pirated
products (books and software) because of the high prices of original products
(books and software). Majority people think that piracy is cheating and stealing
and consider it immoral but it should not be banned because by doing so the
market will be monopolized and the poor people in Pakistan would not be able to
purchase them(books and software).
People have the view that there is no legislation regarding piracy and if there is
any, then there should be strict implementation of the law.
People make decision of purchasing new products (books and software), keeping
ease of use, price and quality in their mind. The low prices of pirated products
(books and software) compel the end users to purchase these products (books and
software). But many people are of the opinion that by lowering the prices of
original products (books and software), lowering import taxes, and banning the
pirated products (books and software) can solve the problem up to some extent.

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 Recommendations

Keeping, the findings of our survey, in view, it is recommended that prices of the
original products is main factor giving rise to sell of pirated products. Along with
this government poor implementation of law and lack of awareness among the
people is also severing the problem. So government should banned the pirated
products and encourage industry to produce original licensed products on lower
prices. Meanwhile universities, colleges and schools should carry out conferences
and seminars to bring awareness among the readers.

Irshad Ali Toori

Amjad Hussein Naqvi
Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar.

Survey

Age___________ Gender_________________

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Organization__________________________________ profession_______________
Semester__________________

1. Do you have any idea about piracy?

Yes No
2 What determines your decision of purchasing new Book?
I. Price
II. Quality
III. Availability
IV. All of the above
3 Is there any difference in pirated products and original products?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
___
4 Do you prefer purchasing low priced copied software over original software.
Why?

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
___
5 Do pirated products include all those things which are there in the original
product?
Yes No
6 In developing countries like Pakistan, where poverty is rampant and the prices of
original products are high, don’t you think pirated products should be allowed?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
__
7 Don’t you think piracy is a business and provides employment opportunity?
Yes No
8 Do you have installed
a. Original licensed copy of Microsoft windows on your PC.
b. Copied low priced windows on your PC
c. I don’t use Microsoft windows
d. No answer
9 Is there any penalty regarding piracy in Pakistan
Yes no
10 What do you think are the other factors other than Price and Quality which is
causing piracy?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
___

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11 Do you agree that sale of pirated books affect creativity of both readers and
writers?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
___
12 How the general public can stop piracy?
i. We should purchase only original products
ii. Awareness program should be conducted
iii. Strict implementation of Government legislation is needed
iv. Other_____________________________________________________
13 Do you agree that there should be punishment and penalties regarding piracy?
Yes No
14 Any suggestion from you regarding piracy?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
______

Thank you