Azerbaijan to impose stricter controls on software market

By Nigar Orujova - AzerNews 

The fight against piracy in the software industry can truly influence the business environment in the coming year, said Jahangir Ganizade, the Director of Design at AtaTexnologiya, on September 29.

Despite the fact that the country has a law on intellectual property rights and combating piracy, he added, when the revealed facts are limited with only warnings.

“I believe that measures to combat piracy in Azerbaijan will be tightened in 2016. The fight will take place at the level of law enforcement, representatives of which will legitimately physically check software used in the company for a license. Penalties will be applied if it is proved that the company is using pirated software,” said Ganizade.

According to the latest report by the Business Software Alliance, the level of use of pirated software in Azerbaijan is 85 percent.

In late 2014, the Software Alliance reported that the piracy rate was at 87 percent. However, the agency said the figure is not the highest across CIS countries.

The fight against the illegal production of software in the country is ongoing.

Microsoft has earlier warned computer retail stores in Baku against selling illegal software. However, inspections organized by the company this May showed a real absence in the sales of counterfeit software in large stores.

Azerbaijan is now on route to increase the sale of licensed software, which will inevitably lead to a different behavior in the market.

The Center for Intellectual Property Rights under the Azerbaijan's Copyright Agency regulates the issuances of the control marks for the objects of copyright.