The rate of global computer software piracy fell marginally last year, but its cost jumped because of overall growth in the software industry and the devaluation of the dollar, according a report released by the United States Business Software Alliance (BSA) on Wednesday.
The alliance said that the rate of piracy slowed to an average of 35% around the world in 2004, from 36% in 2003.
Conversely, the value of illegal software rose to $32,7-billion, from $28,8-billion.
US-based market research firm IDC compared software sales in each of the countries with estimates of software in use and took the difference to be the pirated amount, calculating losses based on prices for those copies.
”For every $2 of software that was purchased legitimately, there was $1-worth of software that was obtained illegally,” said BSA CEO Robert Holleyman. ”That is a huge shortfall and it has big consequences.”
The BSA survey, conducted by IDC, covered business applications, operating systems, consumer software and local market software in 87 countries.
The piracy rate was lowest — 22%, down from 23% in 2003 — in North America, where losses were more than $7,5-billion, a widening from $7,2-billion a year earlier.
Holleyman said the US has the lowest rate of piracy because it has the toughest penalties in place of any country for illegal software usage, but the highest dollar value of illegal software because it is the largest single software market in the world.
Losses in the Asia-Pacific region were about the same as North America at $7,9-billion, up from $7,6-billion, but the piracy rate there was more than double at a steady 53%, reflecting smaller sales.
Piracy was most expensive in the European Union, where a 35% rate — down from 37% — cost software publishers more than $12,2-billion, up from $9,8-billion.
The BSA said a 10% reduction in software piracy across Europe could bring more than 250 000 new jobs and $23-billion in tax revenues by 2006.
Critics say such figures are exaggerated because those with pirated copies might not have actually gone out and paid full price for the software. They also argue that users can get hooked enough on an illegal copy to buy upgrades later that they might never have otherwise.
But the BSA says its survey was conducted independently using scientifically based methods. It adds that the survey was backed up by more than 7 000 interviews in 23 countries and instruments such as PC Tracker, which it sells to computer vendors, allowing IDC to track shipments by model, vendor and type every quarter in more than 65 countries.
While software piracy is not new, industry groups say it is worsening because of faster internet distribution, inadequate legislation and lax enforcement.
Holleyman said that while internet piracy is a significant problem, it is not the source of the majority of losses to software piracy.
”Most of the losses that are occurring are happening within otherwise legitimate organisations where they may have 50 or 100 PCs, but they’ve only licensed a small number of legal copies of software to meet their productivity needs,” he said.
”So, that type of what we would call end-user piracy is still the lion’s share of this problem.” — Sapa-AP