Introduction to Intellectual Property Rights, Software Protection & Development in the South Mediterranean Countries

This paper looks at the role of intellectual property rights in development in the context of South Mediterranean countries. A special focus is placed on software piracy data and analysis to assess the current losses implied by the practices of non compliance with IPRs. Descriptive and regression analyzes are used to show the links between piracy, economic losses and development. The results show how the strengthening of domestic institutions may not mean only applying “the law” and pursuing legally the non compliant. But it means the inclusion of the all players into the process of development. Further research and development besides optimal IPR protection appear to be necessary. The inclusion of the informal sector is then an important part of this enterprise. This requires policies of formalization besides mobilization of knowledge and intellectual property rights among the informal producers and traders.Intellectual property rights; software piracy; development; South Mediterranean countries.

Enforcing IPR through Informal Institutions: The possible role of religion in fighting software piracy

The existence of formal IPR laws can be considered a prerequisite for having efficient law enforcement but does not imply efficient enforcement in itself. A simple model is constructed to explain the interplay between the IPR law and human behavior within counterfeiting countries. It shows how a politically monitored IPR enforcement strategy is able to alter formal IPR laws or institutions but might not affect informal institutions, or human morals and behavior, to the same extent, hence barely affecting piracy situation. The model shows the essential role of informal institutions and its sanction mechanisms in the enforcement process. The main obstacle of IPR enforcement is that people are still not convinced that IPR violations are unethical. Religion can be considered an informal institution that might support or hinder formal laws issued with regards to IPR and hence influence de facto enforcement of laws, especially in countries with high piracy rate if a high adherence to religion is found. As the Religion-Loyalty Index (RLI) developed by this study shows, Muslim countries have the highest religiosity level among different religions. Consequently, an investigation of how Islamic jurisprudence views IPR piracy is conducted. As Islam generally prohibits IPR piracy, a set of policy recommendations based on new institutional perspective is presented that can effectively help in minimizing IPR piracy in developing countries in general and Muslim ones in specific.Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Formal vs. Informal Institutions, New Institutional Economics (NIE), Software Piracy, Religion, Enforcement

An exploratory investigation of aberrant consumer behaviour in Libya: a sociocultural approach

Studies concerning aberrant consumer behaviour (ACB) are dominated by research conducted in the West. By examining the impact social and cultural factors have on the management and understanding of ACB in Libya, a Muslim country, this paper extends knowledge by exploring this issue in a different setting. Materials were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with 26 sellers in Libya and ACB was explored in three different contexts: grocery stores, computer stores and hotels. The study finds that the sellers use alternative marketplace behaviours to manage ACB to that described in the literature, namely informal, community based approaches which reflect accepted societal and cultural norms. Furthermore, the study finds that not all activities reported to be ACB in the literature are perceived to be misbehaviour by the Libyan sellers

The global information technology report 2014

Executive summary When The Global Information Technology Report (GITR) and the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) were created more than 13 years ago, the attention of decision makers was focused on how to develop strategies that would allow them to benefit from what Time Magazine had described as “the new economy”: a new way of organizing and managing economic activity based on the new opportunities that the Internet provided for businesses. At present, the world is slowly emerging from one of the worst financial and economic crises in decades, and policymakers, business leaders, and civil society are looking into new opportunities that can consolidate growth, generate new employment, and create business opportunities. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) continue to rank high on the list as one of the key sources of new opportunities to foster innovation and boost economic and social prosperity, for both advanced and emerging economies. For more than 13 years, the NRI has provided decision makers with a useful conceptual framework to evaluate the impact of ICTs at a global level and to benchmark the ICT readiness and usage of their economies

Software Piracy in Egypt: Analysis of the Institutional Environment and Efficiency of Enforcement Measures

This paper develops the first applied econometric model to examine the efficiency of existing enforcement measures and legal framework on prevailing software piracy rates in Egypt. Hence, it can be used as a tool when discussing new policies concerning the welfare of the interest groups and the pricing of protected software products (i.e., original software products). The model will focus on the available time-series data during 1992-2002 in Egypt. This time period was chosen due to the paucity of quantitative data concerning the model. The institutional environment is examined according to the New Institutional Economics (NIE) to illustrate the legal framework, the informal constraints and the enforcement authorities to support the empirical model. Analytical results show that efficient enforcement of property rights does not only imply increasing legal enforcement through imposing more severe punishments and prosecutions, as decreasing the prices of software plays a much bigger role. Thus relying on legal enforcement authorities alone is not always economically optimal, as it will not be able to deter IPR infringement on its own.Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Legal Enforcement, New Institutional Economics (NIE), Software Piracy, Egypt

An investigation of the relationship between counterfeiting and culture: evidence from the European Union

International counterfeiting affects adversely producers, consumers and domestic economies. Some attempts have been made in the last years by international organisations (European Union, World Trade Organisation) to deal with this complex problem. Though some success has been achieved, the number of seizures of counterfeited goods detected in the external borders of EU has increased. This study examines the impact of Hofstede’s cultural variables (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance) on the level of counterfeiting in European countries.

The Compliance with Intellectual Property Laws and their Enforcement in Jordan- A post-WTO Review & Analysis

This thesis examines the implementation, enforcement and evolution of IP laws and regulations in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The period of interest includes the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty first century, with emphasis on the role played by Free Trade Agreements struck between Jordan and the United States, the European Union, and Jordan’s accession to the World Trade Organization. This thesis also examines the enforcement of the current set of IP laws in Jordan, and looks at their social and economic compatibility with the Jordanian societal norms and economic realities. This thesis argues that Jordanian IP laws lack a meaningful social and economic texture, and have failed to be evenly enforced in Jordan, essentially because they do not fit the Jordanian culture and are not compatible with Jordan’s economic stage of development. Additionally, the thesis argues that IP laws have had insignificant economic impact on the Jordanian economy as the majority of technologies used in Jordan, and the majority of foreign direct investments attracted to Jordan, are not IP related. Finally, the thesis argues that the current Jordanian enforcement model, which is built on coercion by donor countries, is serving the interests of foreign companies to the exclusion of the local citizens, and will not, in the long run, produce an enforcement model based on self-regulation by Jordanians, themselves. The laws, therefore, are unable to produce tangible results for the Jordanian people, or help meet their economic interests. The last part of the thesis deals with recommendations and suggestions aimed at creating an integrated approach to the adoption of IP policies

Media piracy in the Middle East: A case study of 2018 world cup

The main aim of this dissertation is to study the audience\u27s perception, awareness, behavior and attitude towards pirating live sports broadcasting media content in one of the Middle Eastern countries, which is Egypt. Moreover, this research fills a gap in the literature by investigating the media landscape in the Middle East in the age of digitalization, presenting an overview of media piracy, internet penetration and social media usage in the region in general and in Egypt in specific. It also studies the recent piracy activity in the case of 2018 FIFA World Cup in Egypt, by examining the legal and illegal broadcasters in the Middle East. Hence, the core of this study is the Egyptian media audiences and football fans who watched the 2018 tournament either by using legal methods which are subscribing to beIN sports packages, since it was the only legal broadcaster in the region, or using other illegal techniques such as illegal television cables and illegal live streaming from the internet. The study is conducted on a purposive sample of 460 young Egyptians; their age varies between 18-30 based on previous statistics, which revealed that the millennials in MENA are the ones who violate the intellectual property of the media the most and they are altering the media landscape in the region. The research follows a triangulation method by combining two research approaches; in-depth interviews as a qualitative methodology and surveys as a quantitative one. The theoretical framework used in this study is the Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Responsibility Theory. Also, this study revealed several different important factors that are related to pirating sports broadcasting media content, which are: 1) the impact of Egyptian youth on this phenomenon, 2) the factors that influence their intentions and behaviors to violate the intellectual property of the media, 3) the techniques that could be used to reduce piracy, 4) the audience awareness about this issue and the relationship between being a football fan and the size of sports pirated content, and 5) the correlation between the economic status of the audiences and the act of media piracy. Thus, the study at hand managed to outline the behavior of the Egyptian youth towards pirating the media

Post Saddam Restructuring of Intellectual Property Rights in Iraq Through a Case Study of Current Intellectual Property Practices in Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan, 6 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 250 (2007)

When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, it did so with the ambitious goal to completely transform an isolationist government into an international democracy. The Coalition forces created laws designed to conform Iraq to international standards, including three Orders tracking the language of the WTO and its IP enforcement mechanism, the TRIPs Agreement. These standards, however, are often inapposite of unique cultural and religious beliefs of an Arab Middle Eastern country that views ideas, concepts, and knowledge as communal. This comment analyzes similarly situated countries in various stages of dealing with the transition and suggests affirmative steps to expedite the process. Finally, this comment concludes that for a seamless transition into the global economy, Iraq should be supplied aid to acclimate its judiciary, attorneys, and citizenry to these new standards and allowed a reservation in Iraq’s accession agreement regarding the patenting of seeds

Creative Industries: Case Studies from Arab Countries

The paper describes and explains empirically the economic performance of four key creative industries (the book publishing, music sound recording, film production and software industries) in five Arab countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon). Using the Porter (Diamond) model as its theoretical background, a survey was conducted in the years 2002-03 among 242 experts, covering firm representatives, industry and government experts. The results were incorporated into five national case studies. This paper synthesizes the results of those national reports, giving a comparative account of the performance of the four creative industries in these Arab countries. The overall results of the study suggest that creative industries in Arab countries are substantially underdeveloped, and there remains a great potential that should systematically be mobilized. A discussion of how this can be achieved is offered, based upon a well-designed and implemented process of upgrading and innovation in companies, industries and clusters related to creative activities. Public policy can play in this process an important role, as shown in the example of promoting Shanghai creative industries, where the Municipal Government has played a key role.Knowledge-based industry, knowledge economy, creative industry, creative economy, cultural industry, copyright –based industry, Arab countries, Arab world, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon