Microsoft Gulf, Bahrain Ministry of Information collaborate for successful raids against pirated software resellers

The raid, which led to the seizure of two computers, once again reaffirmed Bahrain's proactive stance against software piracy and its commitment to becoming a regional and international IT hub.

The resellers, based in the capital city of Manama, were both found to be in possession of a desktop PC preinstalled with a pirated copy of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. The latest raid follows a month after the MoI supervised the public destruction of thousands of unlicensed CDs.

Jawad Al Redha, BSA Co-Chairman in the Middle East, said:

"We commend local authorities for carefully planning the raids and making sure that the resellers were unaware of our plans. This is how we want to present our anti-piracy efforts: swift, frequent and uncompromising. This will hopefully discourage more individuals and groups from assuming that they can easily get away with such illegal activities in Bahrain."

In January 2008, the Bahrain Ministry of Information co-hosted a successful anti-piracy roadshow as part of regional initiatives to broaden public awareness about the negative impact of crimes against intellectual property rights on society and the economy.

Jamal Dawood, Director of Publication, Bahrain Ministry of Information, said: "Prior to this event, the Ministry signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding with the Business Software Alliance, the leading global organisation that is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace."

"Software piracy is a socioeconomic menace that needs to be tackled by coordinated, sustained and committed efforts from government, the private sector, and concerned groups and individuals. This raid proves this point, that we have to be united in our stand against intellectual property rights violations. We thank the Bahrain Government for its full support of anti-piracy activities, and the local authorities as well for making sure that offenders are caught," said Al Redha.