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Tadakatsu Honda
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May 11, 2010
Software piracy costs $70b
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BSA said that for every US$100 of legitimate software sales in 2009, another US$75 worth of unlicensed programs were sold. -- ST PHOTO: SIM CHI YIN
SINGAPORE - SOFTWARE piracy costs technology companies more than US$50 billion (S$70 billion) around the world last year, with Asia accounting for the largest share of losses, an industry report said on Tuesday. Global losses due to software piracy reached US$51.4 billion in 2009, with US$16.5 billion of this in the Asia-Pacific region, said the annual report by the Business Software Alliance, which has a base in Singapore. Despite some successes in the fight to protect intellectual property rights, 43 per cent of software used in computers worldwide in 2009 was pirated, compared to 41 per cent the year before, the BSA found in the report, conducted in collaboration with market research firm IDC. The deluge of counterfeits was largely due to the growth of the personal computer market in Brazil, India and China, it said.
But last year's financial losses also marked a three per cent drop from 2008 as the rate of pirated software use fell in 54 of the 111 economies studied, remained steady in 38 and rose in 19. Bangladesh was the Asian country with the highest software piracy rate, followed by Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam, with China and India also among the most prominent culprits. BSA said that for every US$100 of legitimate software sales in 2009, another US$75 worth of unlicensed programs were sold. Ex-Soviet state Georgia was the world's top software pirate, with 95 per cent of all software used in the country deemed illegal. It was followed by Zimbabwe, with 92 per cent, Bangladesh with 91 per cent and Moldova with 91 per cent. - AFP.
