Software piracy decreasing

Piracy in the sphere of intellectual property still remains a serious problem in many countries, but the governments try to do their best to protect the authors from this offence. In Azerbaijan, this problem has also lost momentum during the past several years.

Piracy in the sphere of intellectual property still remains a serious problem in many countries, but the governments try to do their best to protect the authors from this offence. In Azerbaijan, this problem has also lost momentum during the past several years.

The level of software piracy in Azerbaijan does not exceed 75 percent, the country's Copyright Agency told Trend on January 15. The agency noted that the positive dynamics in the reduction of software piracy by 21 percentage points has been observed in the country since 2005.

During the same period, piracy in the publishing of books fell from 61 to 28 percent, and in the audio and video products market – from 90 to 65 percent.

The agency further said it registered 667 works of 354 authors in 2017. In general, since the registration of works began in 1996, the agency has registered 11,554 works and objects of related rights. As many as 177 works of 85 authors were registered in electronic form.

As for the composition of these copyrighted objects, 30 percent account for musical works, 25.8 percent for literary works and computer software, and 20.9 percent for scientific and educational objects of copyright. Other works fell on the spheres of decoration and design, compilations, multimedia works, phonograms and broadcasts, information databases, audiovisual products and other copyright objects.

Today Azerbaijan is on its route to increase sales of licensed intellectual property, which will inevitably lead to further changes in the country's consumer behavior. Overall, the fight against piracy in the sphere of intellectual property is expected to truly influence the business environment of Azerbaijan in the near future.