Dubai Police seize pirated software in Dubai oil company raid

The raid was conducted in association with the UAE Ministry of Information.

The latest raid gives a fresh boost to the efforts of Business Software Alliance (BSA), who have mounted pressure on software pirates and combated piracy by supplying information to the authorities on suspicious dealers and end-users.

"Following the stringent application of Copyright Law, the UAE has adopted a tough stance against software piracy. The UAE's efforts are highly commendable, because it continues its aggressive campaign although software piracy incidents in the country are among the lowest in the region. This indicates the seriousness with which the UAE is tackling the issue of software piracy," said Scott Butler, CEO of Arabian Antipiracy Alliance (AAA).

"The latest raid by Dubai Police will serve as yet another assurance to global and regional software players that the UAE is serious when it comes to taking action against violators of the Copyright Law. The increasing global investment in IT in Dubai, as evidenced by the success of Dubai Internet City and other IT projects, will continue to grow, strengthened by measures such as these. We appreciate the support that has been provided by Dubai Police and the Ministry of Information, which in turn promotes the healthy growth of the software industry in the UAE," added Butler.

The recent raid is part of an ongoing programme orchestrated by AAA in coordination with the concerned authorities to raise comfort levels for software manufacturers in the Gulf and the Middle East. Similar raids have been conducted across the Gulf over the past few months and will continue until piracy is eliminated. The UAE has successfully reduced piracy penetration from 86 per cent in 1994 to 36 per cent in 2002.

"As our objective is to protect the copyright of software developers, which include most of the world's biggest players, working in close coordination with government authorities holds the key to our success," said Butler. "The Middle East is experiencing a huge growth in IT, but these positive developments will have an adverse impact if software piracy is not eliminated, causing losses to the national economy, as well as harm to end-users."