Piracy costs Morocco around $ 253 Mn
Morocco, Economics, 3/24/2005

Piracy costs Morocco MAD 2 billion of economic losses with an average rate of over 70pc in the sectors of software, music and cinema, it was revealed, here Tuesday, at a meeting on counterfeiting and piracy, organized by the Communication Ministry and Le Bureau Marocain du Droit d'Auteur (Moroccan Office for Authors' Rights).

Organized groups in Morocco manufacture and illicitly distribute audio cassettes, CDs, video tapes and VCDs with a capacity production of nearly 400,000 cassettes and 600,000 CDs a week. Losses resulting from pirating and counterfeiting CDs and cassettes are estimated at around MAD 200 million (about USD 23.5 Mn).

The north African country has made the crackdown on piracy among its priorities for 2005 because of the economic and moral damages it causes, said Moroccan Communication Minister, Nabil Benabdellah.

"Piracy is a problem that takes massive proportions, as it undermines the image of Morocco at the international scale and destroys creation and production," he noted.

Benabdallah called for drawing up an action plan to raise awareness on the dangers of piracy and reflect on alternative solutions.

Representative of the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), StŽphane Krawczyk, said his institution supports public authorities worldwide to limit the damages caused by piracy.

In Europe alone, he noted, the music sector employs about 1.5 people with a turnover of nearly 10 billion Euro.

Piracy is the enemy of both local and foreign investor, deplored Krawczyk, noting that this phenomenon is a "crime" against intellectual property and the right of authors.

On his part, representative of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), Laurent Masson, said counterfeiting causes billions of dollars of losses at the international level.

He noted that the software business employs 10 million people in the world with a turnover of USD 1000 billion.

Masson recalled that the world rate of computer hacking in 2003 was estimated at 36pc, and at 56pc in the region of Africa and the Middle East. In Morocco, he said, this percentage has reached 73pc in the same period with losses of over MAD 1 billion (USD 117 Mn).

Previous Stories:
  Arabies: Significant cut in software piracy in Morocco   (10/16/2004)
  Morocco set to crack down on intellectual property piracy   (9/24/2004)
  Morocco to set up government body to fight piracy   (2/12/2004)

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