MICROSOFT SETTLES WITH OMANI SOFTWARE PIRATES

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000938 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, EEB/TPP/MTA/IPC COMMERCE FOR COBERG COMMERCE PASS TO USPTO (PFOWLER) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR MU SUBJECT: MICROSOFT SETTLES WITH OMANI SOFTWARE PIRATES ¶1. (U) On October 7, Econoff discussed Microsoft's conclusion of an out-of-court settlement with four Omani companies engaged in software piracy with Jawad al-Redha, Microsoft's Gulf Anti-Piracy Manager and Co-Chair of the Business Software Alliance. Redha noted that the settlement was the product of over seven months of work in negotiating with the violators, identified as al-Madina, al-Rafraf, al-Arabiya, and World IT. Under the agreement, each company will pay Microsoft USD 3,000 in compensation and pledge to refrain from selling illegal software in the future. ¶2. (SBU) Redha expressed optimism that the agreement will create momentum in enforcing IPR in Oman. He was quick to point out that Oman's purported software piracy rate of 62% was still high for the region, but that concerted efforts such as this would help bring that statistic down several percentage points each year. Redha said that improvements need to be made on the public relations front in reaching this goal. As an example, he noted that the press release on the settlement was only published in the English-language daily Oman Observer, and only after the government cleared on text that did not include country-specific references. Redha speculated that the publishers of Oman's Arabic-language dailies, which declined to publicize the settlement, were worried that they would lose advertising revenue from the companies cited in the text of the announcement. ¶3. (SBU) Comment: Microsoft's settlement comes on the heels of change in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the lead Omani agency in promoting intellectual property rights. Econoff learned on October 3 that the director of the Intellectual Property Department has been reassigned to a lower-level position in a different office of the ministry, and that his deputy has been transferred to an unrelated department as well. Post suspects that the director's ineffectiveness during the implementation stage of the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement may have precipitated the reshuffle. End comment. FONTENEAU