Out-Law News 1 min. read

Global software piracy rises to 40%


Global software piracy is on the increase for the second year running, growing from 37% in 2000 to 40% in 2001, according to the Business Software Alliance's (BSA) seventh annual survey on software piracy. Piracy in the UK dropped from 26% to 25%. At 94%, Vietnam was the worst offender among the countries studied.

Piracy rates across Western Europe increased 3% on last year, and currently stand at 37% equating to revenue losses of $2.7 billion for the software industry. The largest increases in Europe were seen in France and Germany where piracy rates increased from 40% to 46% and 28% to 34% respectively.

Western Europe has the second lowest piracy rate globally after North America, but still accounts for 25% of dollar losses.

Beth Scott, vice president of BSA Europe said:

"Software piracy continues to present an alarming problem to the economies of Western Europe, robbing them of jobs, VAT and tax revenues in every country.

"We urge the European Union to take bold measures in its forthcoming Enforcement Directive to combat the escalating problem of piracy in Europe through tougher legislation."

The independent study conducted by IPR and released today, highlights the damaging impact of unlicensed software use on economies in 85 countries. The worldwide dollar losses due to piracy dropped nearly one billion dollars from $11.75 billion in 2000 to $10.97 billion in 2001.

The reduction in dollar losses can be attributed to a strong US dollar, decline in software prices making the benefits of original software more compelling against the risks of software piracy and the effects of a worldwide economic slowdown. Western Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific once again accounted for the majority (85%) of revenue losses.

The BSA’s 10-page piracy study, 10th June 2002.

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