Pirates cost firms £IB

Press, 7 February 1986, Page 26

Pirates cost firms £IB

By

HUGH BARLOW,

NZPA staff correspondent London Copyright pirates in the Third World cost British companies £1 billion (s2.6sbillion) a year in lost sales, a report said. The report, prepared by the Publishers’ Association and the record and video industry, urged the Government to take measures to curb the counterfeiters.

Mr lan Taylor of the Publishers’ Association said in the “Daily Telegraph” newspaper that the Government had not been very helpful but there were indications it was prepared to take a more active role.

The report named Singapore as the centre of the world’s pirate industry. It estimated more than 60 million cassettes were produced there last year. Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia were other main culprits, it said. In Korea, pirated cassettes accounted for 90 per cent of the market and in Pakistan virtually all the English language text books, in circulation were copied. Sales of illegally copied videos, recordings and computer software in Saudi Arabia cost British industry £23million

(s6o.9smillion) last year. The report recommended a review of trade agreements and foreign aid to countries where counterfeiters were active, and said British embassies should be required to monitor and report on piracy. Mr Taylor said moves in a similar direction by the United States Government had already had an effect .