Saudi company's pirated software leads to SR5 million lawsuit

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Jawad Al Redha, Co-Chairman of the Business Software Alliance

The Business Software Alliance, an international organization that aims to enforce software copyright law, has filed an SR5 million ($1.3 million) damage claim against an unnamed Saudi company found to be using pirated software.

The lawsuit also calls for the cancellation of the company’s commercial registration and an increase in their penalties and prison terms. The claim punctuates a substantial media BSA media campaign, warning the public of the harsh penalties for using pirated goods.

It’s an unprecedented lawsuit for the Kingdom, yet it might only be the first of many- Majed Garoub, the lawyer representing the software company claiming compensation, has said his employers fully intend to file furthers claims against other Saudi companies.

Garoub says that the objective in filing these claims is to protect the investors who’ve brought business to the region, and that protecting intellectual property rights will encourage other companies to invest in Saudi Arabia.

The BSA estimates that 52 percent of companies in Saudi Arabia do business using illegally obtained software, and that this is costing the software companies some $200 million every year.

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USER COMMENTS (3 COMMENTS)

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Its about time
Posted by Amjad Shahrour on Saturday 22 March 2008 at 16:35 UAE time


Its about time we see this! How many business decisions are made on using pirated software keeping in mind that it costs nothing?

I hope this could drive businesses to look at available (high quality) open source alternatives.

Use OpenSource Software
Posted by Dr. James Prabhakar, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Wednesday 19 March 2008 at 17:30 UAE time


Companies should start migrating to OpenSource software. Linux Operating system . There are more than 100 thousand free applications are available to cater various needs of many companies

Microsoft is not holier than the Pope. Microsoft has been already fined 2 billion US dollars for illegal and anticompetitive behaviour , by EU. May be they have instructed their sidekicks to start collecting .

There was a laughing case of one BSA expert in UK sending notices to Universities asking to get license for Apache Webserver , that is 100 percent Free and Never need to be licensed.

The benefits of Piracy doesn't stop piracy
Posted by Kaptain, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Wednesday 19 March 2008 at 16:40 UAE time


Benefits of piracy hinders and discourages the use of original softwares. The software companies too share part of the blame by keeping rocketing prices when inflation is running at an unmatched pace and hard to keep up with.

Breaking down on elements wouldn't still nip in the bud, the trend might get slower of breaking the law but it would again pick up once the dust settles down.

The software companies should cooperate with the users / companies which are newly formed and ease their financial burden of yearly licensing costs and the original purchasing costs. Not many companies are fortunate enough to make it to be big 100 or 500 and even the latter biggers are feeling the crunch of recession.

Piracy is under the surface and cannot be rooted out until the user is sympathised and improvised.
STOP TAKING PROFITS!!! Accommodate them first then charge them.

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