Authorities to crack down on sale of pirated items in Eid

AMMAN — The National Library Department (NLD) will launch a campaign to crack down on stores selling pirated items during Eid Al Fitr, which is expected to begin over the weekend.

“During Eid Al Fitr, sales of pirated CDs, DVDs and videogames rise significantly and therefore we will be dispatching teams to several governorates to crack down on these stores,” Mohammad Abbadi, head of the National Library Department, said over the phone on Wednesday.

The raids will focus on stores in Amman, Irbid, Zarqa and Aqaba in particular as the highest number of stores selling such pirated items is in these governorates respectively, Abbaddi added.

After Eid Al Fitr, the NLD will start another campaign to crack down on bookstores selling pirated titles, which has become a more common practice, he said.

“After Eid Al Fitr, the new academic year at universities will begin and then it is expected to witness more selling of such pirated books. We will take the necessary legal measures against violators,” said Abbaddi.

According to the official, the NLD confiscated more than 23,000 pirated items, including CDs, DVDs, videogames and books since the beginning of this year.

The NLD referred more than 340 cases of intellectual property rights violations to court over the first six months of this year, he added.

Software piracy in Jordan dropped by 1 per cent in 2013 and the Kingdom was among five Arab states with the lowest illegal use of unlicensed software, according to a study by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

Jordan registered a 57 per cent software piracy rating in 2013, compared to 58 per cent in 2011 and 57 per cent in 2009, the 2013 BSA Global Software Survey said.

The commercial value of unlicensed software in Jordan amounted to $35 million in 2013 compared to $31 million in 2011, according to the BSA study.

The Jordanian Copyright Law stipulates that it is a crime to download software, music or movies that are protected under the legislation. Offenders face a prison sentence of between three months and three years and a fine ranging from JD1,000 to JD6,000.