Autodesk and Kuwait's IP Department to collaborate on piracy

CAD software vendor Autodesk has entered into a cooperation agreement with Kuwaiti government organisation the Intellectual Property (IP) Department to promote copyright protection locally.

“We believe that working together with a government-sanctioned agency such as the IP Department in Kuwait will bring more significant results to our fight against copyright infringement and intellectual property rights violation,” said Asdaf Al Khalidi, IPR and license compliance executive at Autodesk Middle East.

One of the main aims of the collaboration is to ensure piracy rates in Kuwait are the lowest in the Middle East region. The Kuwaiti Government and Autodesk have already been working together to enforce compliance with software laws and highlight the consequences of choosing to use unlicensed software. It is through this work that the two organisations have further cemented their alliance in the battle against intellectual property rights violators.

“In our efforts to increase awareness on losses and risks that counterfeit software bring to both manufacturers and users, we have gained the support of the IP Department. Our plan is to prepare for a long-term agreement and campaign with the IP Department, which is aimed at significantly curbing design applications piracy in the country,” said Al Khalidi.

The IP Department says that it recognises the need to heed calls from anti-piracy groups such as the Business Software Alliance (BSA) to get tough on those that ignore copyright legal requirements and guidelines.

“Our aim is to protect copyrights and create awareness for both users and firms in Kuwait, and we recognise that along with awareness, we need effective enforcement of IPR laws and specifically copyright laws as an effective measure for us to achieve this goal,” said HE Sheikha Rasha Al-Sabah, director of the Intellectual Property Department in Kuwait.

The initiative between Autodesk and the Kuwait government follows the latter signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the BSA. As a founding member company of the BSA, Autodesk executives met with the IP Department to discuss the rampant breach of their own copyrights surrounding its AutoCAD software. According to Autodesk the meeting ended with the IP Department pledging its support of the vendor’s anti-piracy campaign in Kuwait.

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