BSA wants specialized courts for IP cases

R Jai Krishna

NEW DELHI: Industry trade body Business Software Alliance (BSA) wants specialized courts for cases relating to infringement of Intellectual Property (IP).

Informing this to CyberMedia News ahead of the World IP Day, to be observed on April 26, Sanjay Gupta, chairperson of BSA India committee said that BSA was adopting a three-pronged strategy to fight piracy in the country. “We will be adopting a three-pronged strategy, namely policy, education and enforcement for fighting software piracy in India,” he said.

“As for the policy initiative, we feel the need for specialized IP courts in the country. BSA is in talks with the government for establishing such courts, as IP is a technical subject, and more cases can be disposed off,” said Gupta.

“Till now the courts decide only on the statutory of damages and not on the quantum of damages in an IP infringement case. There are special IP countries in other countries, but it is unfortunate that in a country like India, we do not have one,” he said.

Stressing on the need for educating the industry and end-users on piracy issues, he said awareness creation on IP issues was of top priority on BSA’s agenda. “As part of our education initiative, anti-piracy / counterfeiting posters will be displayed at various retail outlets. We will be advertising in the mass media apart from screening advertising films, both in English and regional languages at multiplexes during the IP week across the country. We will also be carrying out online anti-piracy campaigns on all the major websites,” he informed.

Gupta said BSA will conduct training programs for IT companies, channel partners and custom officers in various states, as part of its education initiative. “We had written to about 4000 IT companies last year and had successfully conducted training programs/ workshops for about 100 companies, along with KPMG,” he said.

Gupta also said that custom and police officials have been trained and empowered to combat piracy. “Piracy is now becoming an organised crime. Hence, we decided to train the customs and police officials to tackle the issue. We have already trained the Kerala police, and shortly we will be organizing a similar workshop for the Economic Offences Wing under the Delhi Police and also the Kolkata police departments,” he informed.

Stating that India was a huge software market Gupta said piracy rate was 72 per cent in the country. “As per the IDC report, the software industry posted a total revenue loss of $566 million in 2005 which is 9 per cent higher than 2004 figures. However, piracy levels are coming down steadily in India,” he said.

“Software manufacturers and industry bodies view the high prevalence of piracy in India as detrimental to the overall growth of the industry and the economy as a whole. If the piracy is done away with then there would be an increase in sales of packaged software to the tune of $5 billion and additional tax revenues of $400 million,” he informed.

Taking the anti-piracy drive a step ahead BSA has associated with other industries facing the menace, especially the music and movie industry. The trade body along with FICCI is observing IP week from April 20-26, 2007 to bring-in awareness about the importance of Intellectual Property.

“The objective of the IP week is raising awareness on how IP impacts or daily lives, increase understanding of how protecting IP rights promote creativity and innovation; celebrate creativity, recognize the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the global and encourage the IP of others,” Gupta added.

© CyberMedia News