The rate of global software piracy has remained static for three years, but the cost to businesses is rising, the United States Business Software Alliance (BSA) said Tuesday.
The BSA survey, conducted by the US-based market-research firm IDC, concludes that for every two dollars spent on legitimate software, one dollar goes to pirates.
”The bad news is that overall global piracy rates have remained stagnant,” BSA chief executive Robert Holleyman said. ”Overall dollar losses have gone up because the overall market is growing.”
Though the piracy rate declined in 62 countries from 2005 to 2006, those gains were offset by the growth in sales of computers in some of the areas most blighted by software piracy.
The report claims 35% of the all software installed on personal computers in 2006 was obtained illegally. It estimates software vendors could lose about $180-billion to pirates over the next four years.
Critics say such figures are exaggerated because those obtaining pirated software are unlikely to have paid for full-price software in any case.
Holleyman said the piracy rate in China, the second-largest market for personal computers behind the US, has fallen 10% over three years, saving software companies an estimated $864-million.
That drop was offset by an increase in piracy in the Middle East and Africa, he said.
The report identifies Armenia, Moldova and Azerbaijan as among the world’s worst for software theft, saying only one in 20 programs used there is procured legally. The US, New Zealand and Japan are among the most law abiding — but nearly one in four programs there are pirated, it said.
Researchers examined the software market in 102 countries, comparing software sales in each of the countries with estimates of the amount of software in use. The report took the difference to be the pirated amount, calculating losses based on prices for copies of those programs. — Sapa-AP