PIRACY pays. A survey has revealed that, while 90 percent of participants know illegal copying of discs and tapes is wrong, the same 90pc admit to buying pirated music.
The survey was conducted in Yangon on World Intellectual Property Day, which, in case you skipped the celebrations this year, fell on April 26. It involved all of 28 people, aged between 20 and 60, and so may be less than comprehensive as a reflection of the city’s attitude to buying knock-off tapes and DVDs.
U Min Tayza Nyunt Tin, a member of the ASEAN Intellectual Property Association, concedes that there are weaknesses in the popular understanding of intellectual property rights.
“About 80 percent of participants generally understand that intellectual property relates to public daily life, and other people’s intellectual property rights shouldn’t be violated,” he says.
Relating to CDs, DVDs and CD-ROMs, 90pc of participants say that copying without authorisation is a violation of copyright. But the same percentage buys pirated copies, and 99pc of them buy illegal copies of local music records, he says.
“Almost everyone participating in this survey said cheaper prices and ready availability forced them to buy pirated copies,” U Min Tayza Nyunt Tin says. Well, it’s better than walking the plank.
He says that 90pc of participants knew that copying computer programs without authorisation was illegal. But this did not stop 45pc of them from buying pirated copies.
“According to our survey, the computer programs most often copied are Microsoft operating systems and office applications,” he says, adding that 75pc of participants don’t know whether the font system has intellectual property rights or not.
Though the sample is small, it seems to show that younger people are more aware of intellectual property rights than older people. U Min Tayza Nyunt Tin says that there is a need to conduct a similar survey for the 15-20 age group.
But the pirates’ days are numbered. According to the survey, a staggering 90pc of participants know that Myanmar has to enact an intellectual property law before July 2013.
