Software Piracy in Lebanon :: Software Piracy Expository Essays

Software Piracy in Lebanon Abstract What is it about copying software that is desirable? Simply because it is free. In the United States, one might think twice before copying a Microsoft product. Copyright issues are all over the media --remember Napster? For a period of a year, we read countless stories of students all over the US and the world that were arrested for copying and trading MP3s. However, travel across the Atlantic to the chaotic world of Lebanon and one would not even think twice about copying a version of Microsoft Office 2000. What is the likelihood of getting caught? Pretty much a 0% chance. With political chaos surrounding Lebanon since its independence in 1943, the lack of law enforcement allows a variety of of crimes to occur -- one of the biggest ones being software piracy. About 89% of the software in Lebanon is illegally obtained. Section I gives a brief overview of how the origins of Lebanon. Section II describes the politics of Lebanon. The objective of Section I and Section II is to demonstrate to the reader how the lack of a stable government and any true law enforcement allows for so much piracy. Section III discusses in greater detail software piracy and Intellectual Property protection in Lebanon. Section IV gives the author’s point of view. Sources and endnotes can be found in Section V and Section VI respectively. Section I: Introduction Establishing Lebanon2 The history of the Middle East is rich with an eclectic mix of ethnicities and culture. Before World War I, the region that we now call the Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. After the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire diminished. Turkey emerged through the works of the Allies. Mesopotamia, an area filled with tradition and profitable goods, was split between Britain and France. With the support of the French, the Maronites, a sect of the Roman Catholic Church, established a strong political status in what is now modern day Beirut, Tripoli, and most of the Lebanon coast. Starting in the early 1900s, the Maronites had pressed for the expansion of this small Lebanese territory to what they argued was its natural and historical boundaries. Their argument was that the area had always had a unique social and historical character, different from its surroundings, which made it mandatory for the French to grant it as an independent state.