Since I live in country where piracy is not forbidden, I was always curious about law in other countries where it is forbidden.
Hey BataBole
I think you need to get better sources for your information :wink:
Piracy is illegal in Bosnia Herzigovina too, just as it is in almost all countries. Enacting such IP laws is pretty much a requirement if a country wants to be taken seriously or expects to do any kind of business with western countries. Here's a recent statement from the U.S. department of state (I'm not from the U.S. It's just an example I found in English. I have read similar statements written by western European governments as well):
"However, there are signs of progress. In August 2011, the BiH State Court issued a verdict in a significant software piracy case. In that case, the accused was found guilty of unauthorized use of copyrighted material, based on having provided unlicensed products to a government agency. He was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay approximately 195,000 Euros in damages. Undoubtedly, this will have an impact on discouraging similar instances of software piracy."
source
So, IP theft is illegal where you live too. The difference is only that in Bosnia Herzegovina, those laws aren't really enforced. Why not? Because Bosnia Herzegovina has no notable software industry to speak of, therefore protecting such laws has little to no benefit for your own economy. From your governments point of view, spending money on IP protections isn't a reasonable investment.
That doesn't change the morality of it though. Some may think that paying for software is wasting money, but that doesn't change the fact that you are taking something that hundreds if not thousands of people spent years of their lives creating, who would like to get paid. I also see it as "freeloading" off those of us who actually do pay for it, because software doesn't get written that nobody pays for.
Anyway, I think it's great that you are asking such questions!