Illegal PC Software Use Reduces to 69% in India
By CXOtoday Staff
Mumbai, May 21, 2008

The fifth annual global PC software piracy study by Business Software Alliance (BSA) reveals that piracy of software on Personal Computers (PC) in India fell to 69 % in 2007 from 71% in 2006. The study covers 108 countries and was conducted independently by IDC.

Commenting on the report, Keshav S Dhakad, chair of the BSA (India committee) said, This report shows that we are making progress in the battle against software piracy, albeit slowly as compared to other nations like Russia, whose piracy rate dropped by 7 points in 2007. India, as an IT leader, needs a concrete all-inclusive, anti-piracy education, engagement, and enforcement plan to effectively lower software piracy year on year. This could be achieved if there is a right mix of improvements at all levels, in particular, raising general public awareness, establishing specialized intellectual property rights (IPR) courts, creating uniform and equipped IPR police cells and fostering greater government-industry-private partnerships.

Software piracy affects much more than just industry revenues. The governments of India, industry bodies, and software companies have been constantly taking initiatives to curb the menace of piracy. However, there still remain tremendous challenges at various fronts. Among the courts of the nation, the Delhi High Court has been pro-active in attacking software piracy quite effectively. The need of the hour is for the Indian government to make consistent efforts to see an even greater drop in piracy levels which would greatly benefit the Indian economy and make it internationally more competitive.

John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC said, This study shows that government and industry anti-piracy efforts are delivering software piracy reductions in many countries. However, rapid PC growth in higher-piracy emerging markets translates into an overall increase in global piracy.

An IDC economic impact study released this January found that reducing PC software piracy in India by 10 % points over a period of 4 years could generate an additional 44,000 new jobs, US $3.1 billion in economic growth, and US $200 million in tax revenues. The study also predicted an additional US $208 million in revenues to local vendors alone.

Other key findings of the study include:

* Among the 108 countries studied, PC software piracy dropped in 67 countries, and increased in only 8. However, because the worldwide PC market grew fastest in high-piracy countries, the worldwide piracy rate increased by 3 % to 38 % in 2007.

* In Asia, the highest-piracy countries were Bangladesh (92%), Sri Lanka (90%), and Vietnam (85%). Among the lowest-piracy countries were Japan (23%), Singapore (37%), and Taiwan (40%).

BSA advocates a five-point blueprint for reducing software piracy and reaping the economic benefits:

* Increase public education and awareness of the value of intellectual property and the risks of using unlicensed software;

* Update national copyright laws to implement World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) obligations in order to enable better and more effective enforcement against digital and online piracy;

* Create strong enforcement mechanisms as required by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS), including tough anti-piracy laws;

* Dedicate significant government resources to the problem, including national IP enforcement units, cross-border cooperation, and training for local officers and judiciary officials.

* Lead by example by implementing software management policies and requiring the public sector to use only legitimate software.

The BSA-IDC Global Software Piracy study covers piracy of all packaged software that runs on personal computers, including desktops, laptops, and ultra-portables. The study does not include other types of software such as server- or mainframe-based software.


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