A total of 124 cases of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations were registered with the Public Prosecutor and Bahraini courts from 2005 to April 2008, according to Business Software Alliance (BSA).

BSA is the leading global organisation established by the business software industry to promote a safe and legal digital world.

BSA and the Bahrain Ministry of Information have been closely collaborating to intensify anti-piracy efforts in Bahrain.

Both parties have been promoting a hard-hitting awareness campaign to educate the private and public sectors on the negative social and economic effects of software piracy.

The duo has in fact been influential in filing several of the IPR violation cases currently pending in Bahrain’s courts.

Jamal Dawood, director of Publication, Ministry of Information, Kingdom of Bahrain, said: “Our Government intends to sustain its fight against piracy. We have conducted several raids against illegal traders and continue to offer incentives to organizations that cooperate with our anti-piracy program.'

'We shall protect the integrity of our ICT sector and ensure that we have a dynamic and secure IT market, Dawood said.

Jawad Al Redha, BSA co-chairman in the Middle East, said: “We are committed to totally supporting the Ministry’s anti-piracy strategy, which complements our efforts to combat this serious regional and global threat.'

'We believe that unified efforts to develop and deploy intense awareness and enforcement campaigns, such as those espoused by Bahrain, will turn the tide against profiteers and counterfeiters victimizing the region and businesses using unlicensed software.”-TradeArabia News Service