Kuwaiti Bar Association Holds IP and E-Crimes Conference

KUWAIT ? The Kuwaiti Bar Association?s Intellectual Property (IP) Protection Committee is organizing a conference on ?IP and E-Crimes: Dispute Resolution Methods? on March 25, 2009 at the Association?s headquarters in Kuwait.

The one-day event will tackle issues related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and e-crimes, e-crimes cases and the Internet, hacking and the legal utilization of the software programs in addition to the appropriate technical and legal methods to deal with and encounter e-piracy challenges.

Speakers include lawyers and legal councilors from public and private sectors, judges specialized in the field of commercial dispute resolution, high ranking officials from the Customs Department, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Information, the University of Kuwait and the Economic Department at the American Embassy in Kuwait.

Year after year, Kuwait has been demonstrating its commitment to effectively protect Intellectual Property Rights and is considered one of the first countries in the region to promote the need to enhance anti-piracy awareness concepts.

As a result of its firm actions against piracy, the average piracy rate has dropped in the recent years and software developers are increasingly gaining trust in the country.

According to the recent survey conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in 2008, Kuwait piracy rate dropped by at least 10 percentage points; which was estimated to result in adding around $350 million to Kuwait?s national economy, including $219 million in local revenues and $1 million in taxes.

The increasing efforts of the government are expected to lead to a gradual decrease in the use and trade of pirated software in the country.

The Kuwait Bar Association is responsible for issuing legislations relating to the lawyers practices in Kuwait. It is a member of the Arab Lawyers Federation.