By Emeka Aginam

Unless a sound intellectual property policies were created by Nigerian government to spur innovation in local economies, the fight against piracy may remain unabated, the global software giant, Microsoft has said.

At the celebration of World Intellectual Property day (IP) held recently in Lagos, the software giant noted that the use of non-genuine software threatens legitimate businesses and create enormous negative impact on the global economy, as well as a way out of the quagmire.

“Software piracy and the efforts to illegally profit from counterfeit and pirated software have become increasingly sophisticated and complex, which is why it is so critical to continue to work toward stronger, more effective IP protection,” Juan Hardoy, director, EMEA Anti-Counterfeiting and Digital Crime, Microsoft, who spoke at the just concluded Seventh Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy in Istanbul said.

According to him, “Microsoft is dedicated to educating consumers and businesses on the real risks they face from the dangerous malware, viruses and spyware that so often result from counterfeit and pirated software.”

Supporting the call for the creation of sound IP policies in the country in a penal discussion, Adefolu Majekodunmi, Partner Director, Microsoft Nigeria, who chaired the discussion, said, “A good legal framework and proper enforcement is what is needed to create the enabling environment needed for the development of creativity and innovation,” he said.

Also recognizing that piracy hampers the innovation , popular artiste, Lanre Dabiri, said, “Piracy suppresses innovation! A lot goes into nurturing an idea or product to fruition.

“When this idea gets stolen, it means you cannot recoup the resources that went into putting your thoughts together and this is unfair to the artiste or property owner”, adding that , “I have over 400 songs catalogued in the music industry for 15 years and to date I have not made up to N1 million in royalties due to lack of intellectual property rights law”.