OUR STAFF REPORTER KARACHI - The breach of intellectual property rights are causing billion of rupees loss in revenue to the national exchequer. According to an estimate Pakistan governments annual revenue loss from intellectual property rights infringement have shot up to a staggering Rs21 billion in 2008 from Rs10 billion in the year 2002. This was stated by Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press at a press conference held at a local hotel on Tuesday. The event was organised to mark the World Intellectual Property Day. Speaking to the journalists, she said that the countrys legitimate industry, the government and consumer are suffering due to rising piracy of books, software, entertainment material and trade mark violations. Explaining her point of view she said that the tax-paying industry is suffering losses of billions of rupees because of counterfeiting and trademark violations by the unscrupulous businesses that violate these laws. The government is losing revenue because the people who produce counterfeit and pirated products do not pay taxes. And the consumers suffer because they are hoodwinked into buying pirated and counterfeited products, she added. She pointed out that with the help of law enforcing authorities, they have arrested a number of people who produce low quality OUP course books in a greater quantity than the original books produced by OUP. Such books, she maintained, are published on low quality paper and as they are copies the printing of the books have many flaws including double printing of images and sometimes missing pages. And the irony is that they are sold at the same price as genuine OUP or other genuine books. Ms Saiyid said that the leading writers, singers and software developers of the country are losing millions of rupees in royalty because the piraters do not pay anything to the creators. Imagine if an artist like Mehdi Hasan was paid his due royalty, today he would not have needed support from the govt or public, she pointed out.