Theft.

Ask an individual if they would steal a car or rob a bank, most of them would deny even contemplating doing these heinous acts. High chances are they just lied. Truth is 42% of our global population commit theft on a daily basis; the theft of intellectual property via piracy (BSA, 2012). In a study carried out by BSA (2012), it is found out that 67% Brunei Darussalams population are responsible for the loss of $25 million, by practicing and their acceptance of pirated goods. This essay will first cover the definition of intellectual property, a few reasons for the high percentage of piracy in Brunei Darussalam and the steps that have been taken by the government to reduce the rate of piracy in Brunei. First of all, what is intellectual property? As noted by Drahos (1996), intellectual property is a very difficult topic to discuss or to regulate due to its abstract nature. As a result of its lack of solid boundaries and proper definition, there is great difficulty in setting up rules and to monitor against the misuse of these objects. However in recent times, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (2004) has defined it as creations of the mind which is more oriented with literary and artistic creations such as industrial designs, books, films and music. Therefore with the foundation of a proper definition: that ideas are in fact considered as assets; these properties then should be treated and handled similarly to other assets (Henry, 1975). Nevertheless, 70% of the people in the world, with no exception to Bruneians, still find piracy a socially acceptable activity that is normal for their day-today life (BSA, 2012) (Gurney, 1995). The high standard of living that has become the normal living standard for most people in Brunei would heavily influence the amount of resources available to the population. This is evident by the fact that 74 % Bruneians population own their own personal computer or laptop and about 60% of them have easy access to an internet source (AITI, 2010). With the availability of resources provided to Bruneians its no wonder that Brunei is considered to have among the highest piracy rate in pacific Asia region. Even more with the upcoming installation of fibre optics in Brunei (Too, 2012), that would provide a more quicker and stable internet connection to Bruneians, it would be a fair prediction that the rate of piracy in Brunei would increase as more people would be able to download and obtain illegal software with more ease than before. Other than that, the simple and casual approach people take over the theft of intellectual property could be connected to the publics desire and need for entertainment. As Gurney (1995) points out that the fact that though ignorance may play a small part over the buying of these stolen goods, it is their desperation and greed that plays a major part in the publics choice to buy pirated goods, even if they are aware that the product theyre buying had been obtained through illegal means. This is especially true for the Bruneian society, which other than the local network RTB, only has a limited choice of entertainment for both young and adult generation of the public. As a result to cure their impending boredom, they resort to buying pirated DVDs and CDs or downloading them by their selves from the internet. This fact is proven by the statistics that more than 71% of the pirated items downloaded from the internet were movies and videos while 14.5% of it was television programmes (Anson, 2011). Other than their search for entertainment, human nature that seeks for the simplest and easiest route may endeavour in encouraging an individual to participate in piracy. This is because pirated goods are often more affordable to obtain than attempting to purchase an original product, such as where a normal Blu-ray disc may cost $30 - $40 a pirated Blu-ray disc instead may only cost them $10. Another fact that may influence the public to be more acceptable of intellectual theft would be that pirated goods are easier to find compared to original goods. This is especially true for western movies or television shows, where the original DVD sets are difficult to come by at local DVD stores due to 1

the time and distance for the shipment of goods to arrive in Brunei Darussalam. Logically and predictably, most of the public would of course, choose to purchase pirated goods as they are cheaper and much easier to find. The government of Brunei Darussalam has made several attempts to control the theft and illegal distribution of intellectual property such as the creation and recent implementation of the emergency copyright order 2000 (Nur-al-ain, 2011). As copyright itself protects all products made with either literary, artistic or even scientific nature from infringement (Jacob & Daniel,1993), this would enable the government to achieve its objective and obligation as a member of the TRIPS council, a branch in the World Trade Organization that specializes in the handling of counterfeit goods (Nur-al-ain, 2011). Under this order, several shops selling pirated DVDs and CDs have been forced to stop distributing the illegal products, and instead to only sell original items (Kon, 2012). Shops that had ignored the warning notices given by the government had been forced to shut down and have their business licence to be revoked. Admittedly, this drastic move had made a distinct effect on the sale and purchase of stolen intellectual property to the general public, however with the closing down of these shops comes the new emergence of a black market where individuals would create and subtly sell their own pirated goods to other people. Even with patent orders and copyright orders, the issue still remains that the implementation of the rules and regulations for the protection of intellectual property are hindered with the fact that the means and tools to commit plagiarism and copyright infringement are readily available to most of the population of not only Brunei, but also to most of the global population. It has become more difficult to manage intellectual property especially with the several rapid advancements and breakthrough that has been and will continue to be made in technology. The prominent correlation between the two factors; technological advancement and the theft of intellectual property, suggests about a new theory: that due to the progress of technological endeavours human race would then have to instead sacrifice their rights over their creations that had been concocted by their mind. In that case the question would then be: is it worth it?

Reference List : AITI: Authority For Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (2010). Brunei Darussalam household ICT survey report. Retrieved from http://www.aiti.gov.bn/media/AITI%20ICT%20SURVEY%20BOOKLET%20FA%282%29.pdf Anson, A. (2011). Online piracy in numbers-facts and statistics [infographic]. Retrieved 2011, November 01 from http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-piracy Business Software Association. (2012). 2011 BSA Global software piracy study Ninth edition. Retrieved from http://portal.bsa.org/globalpiracy2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_StudyStandard.pdf Drahos, P. (1996). A philosophy of intellectual property. Dartmouth: Dartmouth Publishing Group. Gurney, J. ( 1995). Copyright theft. Great Britain: Hartnolls Ltd. Henry, N. (1975). Copyright-information technology-public policy Part 1. New York: Dekker. Jacob, R. & Alexander, D. (1993). A guidebook to intellectual property. London: Sweet & Maxwell. Kon, J. (2012, May 07). Final warning for shops to clear pirated CDS. Retrieved from http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/Local-News/final-warning-for-shops-to-clear-piratedcds.html Nur-Al-Ain Dr Hj Abdullah. (2011). Introduction to Brunei Darussalams intellectual property legislative framework Retrieved from http://www.aiti.gov.bn/index_backup/media/IP%20Legislative%20Framework%20of%20Brunei. pdf Too, D. (2012, May 12). TelBru set to install more fibre optic points. The Brunei Time, p.16. World Intellectual Property Organization. (2004). What is intellectual property? Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/450/wipo_pub_450.pdf