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Economies to Benefit From Cutting Software Piracy Rate: Study

Posted on: Friday, 9 December 2005, 09:00 CST

Economies to benefit from cutting software piracy rate: study

SINGAPORE, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Tax revenue could increase 67 billion US dollars worldwide if software piracy rate was cut by 10 percentage points, a study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said Thursday.

In the Asia Pacific region, a 10-point cut in the regional piracy rate could add 135 billion US dollars to its economies and make the software sector grow three times faster over the next four years than it did in the last four years.

The information technology (IT) industry, which includes software, hardware and IT services, generates 195 billion US dollars and employs 4.7 million workers every year in the region.

Conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC), the study also showed that the global software piracy rate stood at 35 percent in 2004, while the figure for the Asia Pacific region was 53 percent.

The global IT sector, which is currently projected to grow by 33 percent between 2004 and 2009, "could instead grow by 45 percent over the same period with a 10-point reduction in software piracy," a BSA press release said.

The study suggested that countries worldwide update national copyright laws, create strong enforcement mechanisms, dedicate government resources, improve public education and awareness, as well as require public sector to use only legitimate software to reduce software piracy.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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