During June this year, a delegation from Microsoft, Dell, Cisco, VeriSign and Symantec met with the Syrian president, Bashar Al Asad, as well as several ministers and business people. They also visited local universities. The purpose of the visit, according to the Wall Street Journal, was to woo Syria away from its strategic alliance with Iran by showcasing the benefits of US technology that would be available to Syria if US sanctions against it were lifted.
The United States enacted the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, which resulted in sanctions being imposed on Syria including restrictions on the export of US products to Syria. Computer components that promote the internet were intended to be exempt but in reality, it is difficult to access many websites and software downloads from Syria. It is not possible to download software from SourceForge, a site for open-source software and Google does not permit Syrians to download its chrome browser.
Syria has also had its own boycott against business dealing with Israel (applying the Arab boycott of Israel). It was only in 2004-5, for example, that Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola products were able to be sold in Syria. For a foreign company to register its trade marks or file patents in Syria, it must still pass through a security clearance.
The situation on the ground does not square well with the politics. The markets supply demand with unauthorised copies of films, music and computer software. Indeed, genuine DVDs, CDs and software are very difficult to find. Copies of music CDs sell for as little as $1, whereas the genuine item might cost as much as $10. Greater price disparities exist between genuine and counterfeit DVDs and software, all of which is openly available. In addition, a significant amount of US technology is being imported into Syria via Dubai (presumably because direct import from the US would contravene the sanctions). Syria-US trade this year is set to hit record highs, despite the sanctions.
What about Syria's copyright law? Syria's 2001 copyright law is a relatively new piece of legislation. Until Syria re-acceded to the Berne Convention in March 2004 (after having left it in 1962), it granted protection only to the works of Syrians and works published in Syria by persons residing in the country. Article 2(c) of the law extends protection to works covered by cultural or other agreements that Syria has entered into. The Berne Convention is surely such an agreement and so from 2004 the works of foreigners such as films, music and software, should have enjoyed the protection of the law, at least in principle.
The non-enforcement of Syrian copyright law appears to be the response to the official non-availability of certain US technology resulting from sanctions. The sanctions have not wholly deprived Syria of that technology - as we can see from the thriving counterfeit markets and indirect imports – but they have just created a well entrenched culture of copying and disregard for the rights of creators and rights holders. Unfortunately, that culture is likely to persist long after the sanctions are gone.
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| Peter Hansen |
Hansen & Partners
PO Box 64
Masakin Berzeh, Damascus
Syria
Tel: +963 11 33 44 190
Fax: +963 11 33 44 198
peter@iphansen.com
www.iphansen.com