A STAGGERING 55 per cent of software sold in Cyprus is pirated with a net cost to the economy of $8 million.
A Business Software Alliance (BSA) global study ranked Cyprus among the five countries with the worst percentage rates of piracy, after Greece, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Most of the non-branded, assembled computers sold on the island are loaded with pirated software in an effort by smaller businesses to lure customers away from big brand importers, who sell their computers with original software as a package.
You can walk into most shops and have your computer made to measure, loaded with pirate copies of any application you want, from Microsoft Office, to design software that costs thousands of pounds, at the same price you would pay to purchase an IBM or HP, which will sell you the software separately.
The practice of selling pirated copies has left major software and hardware importers on the island reeling, since buyers now demand that they sell them computers with the software installed on them for free.
Speaking to the Sunday Mail on this second series of articles on piracy, Achilleas Demetriades, a leading lawyer specialising in copyright law said software piracy has created a huge crisis on the island.
“The staggering thing is that one in two software packages in the business environment has been illegally purchased or used illegally,” he said.
“This does not help a country which wants to promote itself as a service centre in Europe and the Region. Hopefully, the amended Copyright Law that now provides for a fine of up to £30,000 and/or 3 years imprisonment should act as a deterrent,” he added.
Demetriades said that those who purchase pirated software should know that they are effectively stealing and that they are causing damage to legitimate businesses who are selling the software through agreements.
“Usually well-known brands have a deal with the software company to install the original operating system or application themselves and sell the computer as a package,” he said.
“Those who assemble computers on the island can also get a licence to sell original software, but they choose to sell a package filled with pirated software at zero cost, using it as a bargaining tool to sell their product.
“But what you are doing by purchasing that product is that you are handling stolen goods, because that copy of that software package is reproduced without permission, and you could face hefty fines,” Demetriades added.
BSA has called on the governments of EU member-states to take action by enforcing the provisions of the recently adopted EU Enforcement Directive, which introduces new and improved policies against piracy and counterfeiting. It also calls for the implementation of the EU Copyright Directive, which fewer than half of EU members have so far incorporated into their national legislation.
The creation of an Anti-Piracy Unit in the police, and campaigns in Ayia Napa and Protaras have paid off with the police confiscating around 12,000 copied DVDs, CDs and video games earlier this month.
But Deputy Police Chief Soteris Charalambous told the Sunday Mail that the police could not launch similar campaigns on a frequent basis.
“I cannot say we are satisfied with our campaign against theft of intellectual property,” he said.
“We carried out some operations but we are not happy; we had a campaign in Ayia Napa which cost us £7,000 and we confiscated 12,000 DVDs, CDs and games.
“But unfortunately we can’t do this every day because it is simply too costly. At the same time we don’t have the personnel to take part in these operations on a frequent basis,” he added.
“Cyprus was included in a black list in the US a few years ago, but I don’t think we are facing that yet because we have just changed the legislation and there is room for improvement.
“I think we should give some time to the police and the other agencies of the state to get their act together and enforce the law.”
Importers of known brands warned that the situation had to be dealt with to allow the consumer to get better services by using original software.
Highgate manager Polis Evangelides said importers were losing money and clients.
“The problem that we are facing is that we are losing a lot of money because of piracy, directly and indirectly,” he said.
“Directly because we are not selling our legal software, and indirectly because we are losing customers to piracy,” he added.
Evangelides said Microsoft had introduced incentives to lure big businesses to purchase original software.
“They lowered their prices for big businesses in an effort to get them to stop buying pirate copies,” he said.
Andreas Kashiouris from Bull said the situation is critical.
“This is unacceptable. How can we sell our product when there are people out there who sell loaded computer systems?
“The cost is extremely low, but what they are buying is a computer with a lower quality and less support because their copies are illegal. Piracy also creates unfair competition, and it has to be effectively dealt with by the government.”
But software is not the only major problem. Pirated video games are a huge and profitable market, sold in kiosks around the island.
Sharon Green, Managing Director of Gibareio Ltd, the official importers of Sony Playstation, said 80 per cent of games sold on the island are pirated.
“The figures alone give you an idea of how serious the problem is,” she said.
“The games are being sold so openly, so casually, and a lot of the public are ignorant to the fact that even if they vaguely know it’s illegal they don’t think it’s illegal because it’s being allowed to be sold.
“The problem started three years after Playstation 1 was introduced because it took people time to learn how to chip them to play copies.
“With the Playstation 2 it didn’t take that long because they had already set up by the time it came out.”
Demetriades said the government should do more to raise public awareness to put a stop to the sale of pirated copies.
“You win the fight against piracy if you pass the message that it’s wrong,” he said.
“If you manage to explain to people what the benefits of original software are, then you will be able to get support and download patches, and most importantly, you will not be breaking the law.”
