Software Piracy Rate Declining in Serbia

The software piracy rate in Serbia has dropped for the first time in three years. According to Serbia’s official estimates, the rate of illegal software use was 74 percent in the 2008-2010 period, while it dropped by two or three percent in 2011.

Serbia’s rate is still much higher than the EU’s rate of 35 percent in 2010. It is also significantly higher when compared with the Eastern European EU members, e.g. Romania and Bulgaria, where the software piracy rates are 64 and 65 percent respectively.

Head of the Serbian PTO Branka Totic said that Serbia, which has recently been granted the EU candidate status, must reach a level of IP protection similar to that in the EU member states by 2013. Unlike the EU members, Serbia does not have specialized IP courts, the court proceedings last for about two years, and the sentences are often suspended.

Totic added that the customs authorities have made significant progress in preventing the entry of counterfeit goods onto the Serbian market in the last few years, while the results of internal market inspections are not as impressive because surveillance authorities are often burdened by other work.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: EurActiv.com, EU news portal