Morocco earnestly committed to fighting computer pirating

Morocco is earnestly committed to fighting software pirating and is one of the most active countries in this realm, said Tuesday spokesperson of the North Africa Association of Business Software Association (BSA) software editors.

At a conference in Casablanca to present the results of a study on the impact of fighting pirating on the information technology sector, Bennani recalled that pirating rate in the world is estimated at 40 percent as revealed by a study by IDC (the first world group of counselling and studies in IT markets) that included 57 countries representing 98 percent of the IT world market.

The study underscores that a 10 points drop in pirating rate in the world will bring about the creation of 1,5 million jobs, a US $400 billion in economic growth and US $64 billion additional taxes for world countries.

As to Africa and the Middle East, such a drop will lead to the creation of 11,000 jobs, a $4,7 billion economic growth and over US $400 million of taxes revenues in the region.

The drop encompasses two quarters of the 57 countries, including Morocco with 16 points from 1996 to 2001.

Bennani further said it is important to raise the awareness of consumers and enterprises as to their liability and the damage pirating causes to creators and the economy in general.

"Awareness campaigns are not limited to BSA members, they include local editors in the realm of intellectual propriety in general," said BSA spokesperson.