American Chamber of Commerce held “Piracy in the economic sectors” conference

American Chamber of Trade in Tirana held on December 4^th a conference with the theme “Piracy in the economic sectors”, in which a panel of experts and representatives of businesses discussed about the damages this phenomenon causes to the economic entities.

Present in the conference were the President of ACT, Mark Crawford, deputy Minister of Economic Development, Brunilda Paskali, business representatives and legal experts. Paskali stated that the protection of the intellectual property will enhance competition and consume as well.

Mark Crawford called for protection of the intellectual property rights since that would bring more foreign investments in the fields of art and cinematography. In turn, the vise USA ambassador to Tirana, Henry Jardine declared that the piracy level in Albania is at 75%.

In its third edition, the conference raised issues as the novelties the new law on copyrights will bring to fight this negative trend and also the inspection financial institutions are making in the market. Piracy causes to Albanian businesses millions of euros losses and is a concern for foreign investors. As a consequence copyrights of marks and patents must be protected and respected.

American Chamber of Commerce is an important institution, whose members are Albanian businesses which collaborate with the Chamber in cases of lobbying, to network with international businesses and investment circles. This institution also gives Albanian businesses the opportunity to participate in events for which they are interested to be part of.

Piracy is a huge problem not only for the big amount of losses it causes to businesses but also for the high number of jobs lost by it. As in the other states, even in Albania piracy in internet thrives since there is a lack of legislation in this respect.

News source/photo credits: ATA