Source: Diário de Pernambuco - Economy - 16/04/2010

The consumption of pirated products generates in Brazil about US $ 45 billion (R $ 78,3 billion) per year. A loss of US $ 18,6 billion (R $ 32,3 billion) in tax collection, subtracted from the federal, state and municipal coffers. These are data from the survey conducted by Ibope at the request of the National Association for the Guarantee of Copyright (Angardi). With the money lost through the ways of evasion, it was possible to build the Abreu e Lima Refinery (budgeted at R $ 22 billion), the Transnordestina railway (budgeted at R $ 7,8 billion), to carry out basic sanitation in the municipalities. And there's still money left.

Interestingly, 90% of respondents in the Gemepe / Fafire survey recognize that selling these products is a crime, but continue to buy. Disinformation or bet on impunity? Specialist in copyright, lawyer Camila Rodrigues, from the Queiroz Cavalcanti office, says that when the consumer purchases or uses a work due to copyright infringement, he is considered responsible. "When you buy a counterfeit product you get a gain or advantage, but it is difficult to inspect people's homes," he says. She recalls that there are penalties for the breeder and distributor, but not for the consumer.

To combat piracy, the National Council for Combating Piracy (CNCP), a linked body of the Ministry of Justice, has put together an action plan aimed at reducing the trade in illegal products in the country. The first line of action is the repression of illegal trade, through the creation of divisions to suppress smuggling and embezzlement in the departments of the Federal Police and the Federal Highway Police. It will also be proposed to create state task forces to engage states in combating piracy.

Another tripod in the plan is education. The idea is to launch a media campaign whose title is The cheap is expensive, to make the population aware of the harmful effects of the consumption of pirated products. From an economic point of view, CNPC proposes a partnership between the government and the productive sector to offer alternatives to reduce the prices of products targeted by piracy. A way to convince the consumer by the pocket.