Nigerian economy robbed of billions by intellectual property pirates, say expertsLagos, Nigeria – 17 May 2005 – Nigeria’s status as a favourable destination for foreign direct investment as well as a place where local creative talent can flourish is in jeopardy thanks to the activities of criminals that place no value on intellectual property (IP). That was the alarming message coming from a panel of experts debating the enforcement of IP rights at the opening day of the CTO business and technology summit in Lagos yesterday. The summit was organized by the US Mission to Nigeria and sponsored by leading technology organisations, including the Business Software Alliance (BSA) – an industry body that represents commercial software developers and other computer companies – and software developer Microsoft. It brought together luminaries from the public, private, government and commercial sectors of local and international industry. “We need to focus getting the economic and legal fundamentals right in Nigeria in order to open the door to prosperity and growth,” said Brian Browne, the US consul general, in his keynote address. “When it comes to the abuse of intellectual property rights, everyone suffers – the person in the street, leaders of businesses, international trading partners and the Nigerian economy as a whole. We still have a major problem with counterfeit goods of all kinds here in the country. “Theft of IP deprives Nigerian professionals of the revenue they have rightly-earned and the government of the taxes that can be derived from that revenue [and reinvested in the economy].” Karen Burress, a US department of commerce representative visiting from Washington D.C., pointed out that counterfeit goods – including music, movies, electronic goods, food stuffs, automotive parts and pharmaceuticals, among many other things – account for 7 per cent of all global trade. This equated to almost $350 billion in lost revenues and millions of jobs gone wanting worldwide. “We estimate that Nigeria is the largest market in Africa for goods that infringe IP rights. Around 80% of the international music CDs available here are pirated; even the local music industry sees 40% of its products being copied, counterfeited or sold illegally,” she said. The premise here is that if local and international artists do not believe their rights are going to be protected in terms of the work they produce, there is little incentive to produce it in the first place. This concept can be extrapolated to just about any industry that produces original goods and is therefore entitled to the proper revenues from the sale of those goods. This can only smother and stifle economic growth. Given that the CTO summit focuses on information and communication technology Laurent Masson, the VP for Middle East and Africa at the BSA, brought home the impact of piracy and IP rights infringement in the ICT sector. “ICT creates around 10 million direct jobs and contributes approximately $1 trillion dollars to the global economy. The worldwide piracy rate stood at around 37% [according to results published by research firm IDC last year]. Nigeria’s software piracy rate stands at upwards of 80% - about the same as the African average. And that means Africa is losing approximately $1 billion each year because of software pirates,” he said. The question therefore remains: what can be done? Gerald Ilukwe, the regional manager for Microsoft in Nigeria and Ghana, spoke after the event saying that a combination of awareness creation and legal enforcement is the most effective method. “We are staunch supporters of the recently-launched STRAP initiative – a programme that President Olusegun Obasanjo personally supports – and are close partners of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC). As a key member of the BSA we also work with local prosecutors and other law-enforcement authorities to raise awareness around piracy and IP rights abuse,” he said. Education and capacity-building are important, especially at grassroots level where goods are bought because they are affordable, not because they are genuine. However, many of the parties committing acts of piracy are small, medium and large corporates – organisations that should be aware of the civil and criminal liabilities they potentially face. According to Dr. Adebambo Adewopo, given that STRAP is now in place, the NCC can exercise its authority to the full extent of the law. Responding to the suggestion that software companies should be more lenient regarding IP or that piracy is acceptable given that developers make huge revenues from the products, the BSA’s Masson is not convinced. “A successful company – large or small – is going to work as hard as possible to retain its edge in the market and an advantage over its competition. I can’t imagine it offering its services or products for free,” he said. “The same is true in the consumer market. People wouldn’t walk into a supermarket, fill their trolley and walk out without paying because they felt the retailer made too much money. They wouldn’t steal or buy a stolen car just because they thought the prices of were too high. Why is it less of an offence if people do this with computer software, music CDs or DVDs? “It’s often said that software is too expensive. However, a huge amount of revenue is channelled back into the research and development of products that help people do business – the very same people that are complaining about paying for the software. “Developers also produce and price products specifically for particular vertical, horizontal or regional markets. Many companies offer educational or public sector institutions the software at enormous discounts. There is often an agreement that can be struck, so the pricing verses piracy argument is not always one that holds water.” - Ends - For more information: Gerald Ilukwe Adrian Wainwright |