Source: Jornal do Senado, 01/06/2009

Imported Fair, in Brasilia: CDs, DVDs, electronic games and pirated software are sold at much lower prices than the originals. Pirated copy of Microsoft's Office, which costs R $ 349 in stores, costs R $ 10

Rua Santa Ifigênia, near the old business center of São Paulo. The young man buys at R $ 10 the newest version of the Fifa 2009 game to use in his video game. On Avenida Rio Branco, in the financial heart of Rio de Janeiro, a lady pays R $ 5 and takes Zeca Pagodinho's DVD home. At the Feira dos Importados, a few kilometers from the Planalto Palace, dozens of stalls offer the newest version of Windows, Office or any other program that the customer is looking for at a low price.

In three different Brazilian cities, the same scene. The multi-billion dollar piracy industry, which in 2009 is expected to earn close to half a trillion dollars, worldwide, acts in the open, in the light of day, with the complicity not at all ashamed of the Brazilian citizens themselves, who buy the fake products under the claim that they are much cheaper than the originals. Meanwhile, artists, musicians, technicians and many other professionals are out of jobs, legal companies struggle to survive and the government loses a respectable collection of R $ 30 billion, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Justice. To get an idea, the education budget for 2009 is R $ 35 billion.

More profitable than the drug trade itself, the trade in pirated products is by far the most illegal activity embedded in the DNA of Brazilian society. Research and studies prove the thesis. The consumer admits to knowing that he buys a fake merchandise, but continues to buy. Less, it's true. According to the National Forum Against Piracy and Illegality (FNCP), between 2007 and 2008 the rate of adherence to pirated products in Brazil fell from 61% to 58%.

Even so, due to the good economic winds of recent years, 8 million new buyers joined this market in 2008 alone. That is why the disc, DVD and software industries, mainly, would have lost R $ 350 billion in revenues and 5 million jobs have ceased to be generated, again by FNCP calculations. The Brazilian Association of Electronic Game Developers (Abragames) estimated in 2004 that no less than 94% of the country's game market was illegal.

The IRS seized pirated products for a total amount of R $ 4 billion from 2004 to 2008. The figures were released during the launch of the National Plan to Combat Piracy. The industry claims that this is a tiny fraction of what enters the country and ends up being sold. The Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, said that this is one of the serious problems that harm the Brazilian economy.

- It is serious because of the consequences, including citizenship. The person who buys a pirated product is out of the sense of belonging of the organized society, therefore encouraging crime and illegality - said the minister last Thursday, when launching the plan.

Nine out of ten consumers blame the high prices for original products. Many people believe that reducing the tax burden could inhibit pirates. This was one of the suggestions taken to the Senate during a seminar that, last week, brought together experts and representatives from companies and the government in the Education, Culture and Sport Commission (CE).

The National Congress, in recent years, passed laws that toughened the game against piracy. In 2007, 156 people were convicted of the crime. In 2008, the number rose to 195 people.