Business Software Alliance (BSA), the foremost advocate for the software industry, and Adobe have joined hands with the UAE Ministry of Economy to launch intensified anti-piracy campaign.

The ministry on Monday intensified the two-month long campaign which runs till the end of April, said a BSA statement.

The drive aims to promote greater awareness about the country's intellectual property rights (IPR) laws and to educate the public about the legal implications of using and selling pirated software, it added.

During the campaign, the ministry along with Adobe and the BSA will pool together their resources to conduct high-impact advertising campaigns in major print and broadcast media to communicate a clear message to businesses across all industries about the UAE's zero-tolerance policy on software piracy.

Abdullah Al Hussain, director of the Censorship Department, UAE Ministry of Economy, said: "We want to send out a clear and urgent message about the negative impact of piracy on the social and economic development of our country, by highlighting effects of piracy on business landscape, job security and also moral implications of this criminal activity."

The UAE had been highly successful in its efforts to protect intellectual property rights, maintaining the lowest software piracy rate among Arab countries at 36 per cent, he said, citing a report by the International Data Corporation. 

Naser Samaenah, regional licence compliance manager Mena, Adobe Systems, pointed out that piracy has serious implications for the UAE as it inhibits business growth and diminishes the competitiveness of the national economy.

Jawad Al Redha, BSA chair, Gulf region, said the success of this initiative depends largely on the active participation of all members of the society.

"It is therefore our strategy to educate the public about the immediate and long-term benefits of maintaining a piracy-free society, which will encourage our target audiences to become more involved in efforts to address the threat of piracy on the social and economic stability of the UAE," he added.-TradeArabia News Service