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Israel reports heavy losses in fraud plague
Israeli companies were deprived of $500 million revenue in 2005 by piracy, the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce announced this week. In the sector-based league of losses, media suffered badly, with filmmaking missing out on $38 million and the recording industry losing $39 million. Software reported a loss of $84 million – but problems in all these sectors paled before the pharmaceutical trade’s gaping shortfall of $332 million.
Global worries over Israel’s IP climate were heightened recently when it was revealed that the country had made it to No. 13 on the US Department of Commerce’s cause for concern list on IP dealings. The new figures do not account for patent-related fraud.
Speaking at the Israeli Intellectual Property Forum in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, FICC president, Uriel Lynn, said: ‘The phenomenon of intellectual property rights violations has reached epidemic proportions, to the detriment of the Israeli economy and Israel's standing in the global community.’
Naomi Assia, of Business Software Alliance Israel, stressed the need to find solutions for rights abuses in her sector: ‘Every third piece of software in Israel is illegal. If Israel wants to realize the potential of IT, it must do more to protect intellectual property according to US and European standards, such as enacting appropriate copyright laws.’
A 10% reduction in software piracy would open the way for thousands of new domestic IT jobs and swell tax revenues, she added.
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