Source: Paraná Online - Curitiba / PR - 08/10/2010

The data is from the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (Abes), whose representatives participated yesterday in Curitiba, in an event to combat piracy held at the headquarters of the Public Ministry of Paraná (MP-PR), at the initiative of the National Council of Justice (CNJ).

Thanks to educational and repressive actions, software piracy in Brazil has dropped 8% in the last five years. However, the data is still alarming. Last year alone, the country accumulated losses in the order of US $ 2,9 billion due to the violation of intellectual property rights in the area of ​​information technology.

In Paraná, the loss was about R $ 244 million. The state has the fifth largest loss in the country, second only to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul.

“Just to give you an idea, if software piracy fell another 10% in Brazil, the benefits would be the generation of 3,7 thousand direct and indirect jobs, the information technology industry would generate an additional R $ 422 million and the country would raise another R $ 96 million in taxes, ”says the coordinator of the Abes intellectual priority defense group, Antônio Eduardo Mendes da Silva.

According to him, most people, when purchasing pirated products, believe they are taking advantage. However, they do not imagine the evils that the attitude causes to the national economy and to themselves.

“When someone uses pirated software, they run the risk of exposing themselves to viruses and having their computer invaded by malicious programs that can allow other people to access your personal data. When buying a computer, it is important to know if the software is including and appearing on the invoice, which reduces the risk of taking a pirated product home ”.

Training

Also at the event held at the MP-PR, public agents received training to identify pirated products and guidance on how they should act during the execution of major combat actions.

“It is not always easy to identify pirated products. Often, they are done so well that agents feel insecure at the time of identification. Counterfeiting affects a number of products, including medicines, putting the population's health at risk, ”says Ana Lúcia Moraes, executive secretary of the National Council to Combat Piracy.