Oman authorities intensify campaign to protect IPR laws in the sultanate

The raids were conducted by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, Oman, in collaboration with Business Software Alliance (BSA), the global authority that works to safeguard the IPR of software developers.

"Oman strongly believes that protection of intellectual property rights is the cornerstone of modern business. We have introduced IPR laws that provide full protection to software developers and are determined to follow up the legislation with campaigns, including raids of violators. The latest raid assures our commitment to protect IPR under Omani Laws," said Khalid Al Ghassani, General Manager, Directorate of Culture, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, Oman.

Jawad Al Redha, Co-Chairman, BSA Middle East said: "The latest action by Omani authorities should serve as yet another warning to resellers that Oman will not tolerate violation of intellectual property rights. We are encouraged by this move and would like to work in close coordination with the authorities to carry out relentless campaigns so that we can mutually reach the goal of reducing piracy in the general interest of the software industry and the national economy."

"We would like to commend the authorities in Oman for their serious approach to piracy reduction," added Al Redha. "Software piracy poses a serious threat to the development of the software industry, because it de-motivates software developers from offering their products to markets that have high levels of piracy. Countries that show a strong commitment to combating software piracy stand to gain in the long run, because there would be a high degree of trust from software developers who would expand their operations and offer employment opportunities to the local population as well as offer competitive pricing."

The Oman raid was part of the BSA's orchestrated anti-piracy campaigns across the region. It coordinates with concerned ministries to introduce new measures aimed at eradicating piracy completely. The BSA is also running awareness campaigns targeting end-users and companies to highlight the dangers of using pirated programmes, including low performance and loss of information and database.