Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Pirated software cost £1 billion in the UK in 2004, says BSA

18 May 2005, 4:59 pm

In 2004, 27% of software in use in the UK was pirated. That's down two percent on 2003, according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which published its 2004 Global Piracy Study today. The global piracy rate is down by one percent, to 35%.

The cost of lost sales for national and international software publishers based in the UK is put at £1 billion by the BSA, which is up on last year's figure.

"The level of software piracy remains unacceptably high," said Siobhan Carroll, Regional Manager Northern Europe, BSA. "While ongoing campaigns by ourselves and other creative industries will help raise awareness of the piracy problem and respect for intellectual property, the support of the Government will be crucial in bringing the rate down."

The BSA called upon the Labour Government to fulfil its rather vague manifesto pledge to "modernise copyright and other forms of protection of intellectual property rights so that they are appropriate for the digital age".

In particular the BSA urged the Government to use its forthcoming presidency of the EU to implement the controversial Enforcement Directive in the UK and set a standard to other members of the EU, many of which have an even higher piracy rate than the UK.

Germany and Belgium have piracy rates of 29%, while the Netherlands and Norway have rates of 30% and 31% respectively. Within Europe, only Austria and Sweden have lower rates than the UK, at 25% and 26%.

While the worldwide piracy rate was down on 2003, worldwide losses due to piracy had also increased, from $29 billion to $33 billion – an increase that may be due in part to a 6% growth in the PC software market and a devaluation of the dollar, says the BSA.

The countries with the highest piracy rates are Vietnam (92%), Ukraine (91%) and China (90%). The lowest rate was found in the US (21%), followed by New Zealand (23%), Austria and Sweden. The UK has the fifth lowest rate of software piracy in the world, according to the BSA.

Piracy rates have decreased in 37 countries, but have increased in 34 countries. In more than half of the 87 countries studied, the piracy rate exceeded 60%. In 24 countries the piracy rate was more than 75%.

For its analysis, IDC drew upon its worldwide data for software and hardware shipments, conducted more than 7,000 interviews in 23 countries, and used its in-country analysts around the globe to evaluate local market conditions.