On the occasion of the international intellectual property day 3 organisations (ASVA, BSA and ProArt) as well as well known representatives of the industries drew the attention to the importance of protecting copyright and promoting importance of a higher awareness on intellectual property.
The practice of neglecting intellectual rights not only damages the artists, the creators and the industries, but, more importantly causes considerable moral, ethical and cultural damages. It is estimated that the total turnover of the copyright industries stands for app. 9% of the total economic output of Hungary and provide employment to 278.000 persons, 7% of the total workforce. Film, music, arts and software industries are the prime losers of this trend, suffering a yearly total loss of about 100 Bn Forints ( USD 470.000 million.)
Due to the illegal manufacturing and trade of these products, the situation of the software developers, artists and designers is more and more difficult as the black market practically kills the market for legal goods. Primarily due to the Internet downloading practices, legally manufactured CDs, DVDs and software are less and less sought after. In order to turn the trend and provide a new incentive to legal creation, awareness of copyright issues drastically must be raised.