Many people turn to bootleg DVDs not only because they are cheaper than the originals but pirated copies often end up on the market weeks and in some cases months before the originals make it to store shelves. In the case of pirated movies, the average price is SR30 with street vendors and shops often offering discounts if multiple movies are purchased. According to shopkeepers people prefer pirated copies because they are not censored.

“Pirated movies are usually downloaded from the Internet and aren’t touched by state censors,” said a shopkeeper on condition of anonymity. Arab News visited a local mall in Jeddah notorious for selling pirated software and asked a shopkeeper for the latest copy of AutoCAD, computer-aided design commonly used by engineers. The price was a paltry SR20 while according to the official AutoCAD website, a genuine copy costs $3,995 or nearly SR15,000.

However, not everyone buys pirated software. One customer at a store was seen buying an original copy of the popular word processing software Microsoft Word for SR500 and an antivirus application for SR160. He said even though the original copy was more expensive it gave him a piece of mind and he felt bad buying illegal copies.

“I think we should get the original copy for anything no matter what the price is. Companies should do more to protect their intellectual property rights from pirates,” he said.