SINGAPORE: The commercial value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers in the Asia-Pacific region reached a record US$18.7 billion in 2010 as 60 per cent of the software deployed on PCs during the year was pirated.
These are among the findings of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) 2010 Global Software Piracy Study, which evaluates the state of software piracy worldwide.
The amount was more than double the losses of US$7.5 billion in 2003.
In comparison, in 2009, 59 per cent of the software installed on PCs in Asia-Pacific was obtained illegally, while the value of pirated software amounted to over US$16.5 billion.
Among the 30 economies with the highest commercial value of pirated software in 2010, nine economies came from the Asia-Pacific region.
They included China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
According to the study, PC software piracy in the region declined in 14 markets, stayed the same in three economies and increased in only one.
“Despite the improvements recorded in most markets in the Asia-Pacific region, these findings show that the fight against software piracy remains a critical issue and there is still much work still to be done.
“Both PC software piracy rates and the value of pirated software in Asia-Pacific have risen compared to a year ago,” said Roland Chan, senior director (marketing) Asia-Pacific, BSA, when unveiling the survey here.
“The further we reduce software piracy, the better it will be for the economy in the region.”
This is the eighth study of global software piracy to be conducted by BSA in partnership with International Data Corp (IDC), the IT industry’s leading market research and forecasting firm, using a methodology that incorporates 182 discrete data inputs for 116 countries and regions around the world.
Chan cited the BSA-IDC Piracy Impact Study found in 2010 that reducing software piracy by 10 percentage points in four years could inject close to US$41 billion into the Asia-Pacific economy, create 350,000 new jobs, and generate close to US$9 billion in new tax revenue for governments. — Bernama
Speaking on behalf of IDC, Victor Lim, vice-president, Asia-Pacific Consulting Operations, said: “IDC believes that it is imperative that Governments take action through education and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that IP ownership and rights are properly respected, thus ensuring continued enhancements and development of business critical software and solutions.” — Bernama