Promoting IP Via Satellite
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 by Patrick RossWe talk about a digital divide in this country, but there is a very real one in the Arab world, with only an estimated 5 million Arabs online. So how do you reach 300 million Arabs across 22 countries? With a satellite channel, as Wagdy Sawahel reports in IP Watch.
A new satellite channel based in Cairo is programming dedicated educational material on intellectual property to the entire Arab world, focusing on how IP protection can lead to economic development through support of local industries. It’s a message I’ve promoted for some time. I like to tell of a business software developer I met in Sao Paolo who would only sell his software in Europe, where IP laws were respected and rule of law was firm, because he knew if he sold even one copy at home, it would immediately be appearing in pirated form across Brazil.
The operator of the satellite service is Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, owner of an organization bearing his name that provides global professional services. But as Sawahel writes, the channel can promote more than economic benefits:
It also will concentrate on building awareness and providing a clearer understanding of the legal, economic, technical, and social dimensions of IP protection in relation to important issues to the Arab world such as the preservation of biological diversity, the protection of traditional knowledge, and the protection of expressions of folklore.
This satellite channel can do much to educate entrepreneurs and consumers in Arab countries about the benefits of copyright and other IP. And ideally, as more Arabs gain access to the Internet, the message can be brought there as well. Of course, then they’ll find the many techies who dislike the rights given to creators and wish them diluted so they can do more with creators’ works. Perhaps by then some billionaire or major company will be paying to translate these sites into Arabic. Let’s just be grateful it hasn’t come to that yet.
