A new study has shown that 35 percent of the software installed in 2006 on personal computers world-wide was obtained illegally, resulting in nearly 40 billion-dollar losses to the software industry globally.
Pakistan's software sector, too, suffered 143 million-dollar losses in 2006, against 34.30 million dollars in the previous year, according to 'Global Software Piracy Study 2007', released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA). With the 86 percent piracy rate remaining unchanged in 2006, Pakistan now ranks No 7 among top 20 countries with highest piracy rates.
Armenia, with 95 percent piracy rate, topped the list, followed by Moldova 94 percent, Azerbaijan 94 percent, Zimbabwe 91 percent, Vietnam 88 percent, and Venezuela 86 percent, the study noted.
"Pakistan's software piracy rate has remained 86 percent for the second year consecutively, despite the government's sincere efforts to reduce it, because the size of the IT market grew significantly in 2006," commented a BSA spokesman in a press statement issued here on Friday.
The study observed that world-wide piracy losses increased in 2006 by more than five billion dollars over the previous year to 39.58 billion dollars from 34.48 billion dollars in 2005. "These global piracy losses are creating negative impact on IT industry employment, revenues and financial resources availability for the new software development," the spokesman said.
The study also noted progress in a number of emerging markets of the 102 countries covered in the study. The piracy rates dropped moderately in 62 countries, while these increased in 13 countries.
The most notable progress was made in China, where the piracy rate dropped by 10 percent in three years from 92 percent to 82 percent, and in Russia where piracy fell seven percent over the past three years from 87 percent to 80 percent. By reducing China's piracy rate by 10 percent over three years, 864 million dollars in losses were saved, observed the study.
The report also found that the emerging markets in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa accounted for about 33 percent of PC shipments, but only 10 percent of spending on software was seen.
"Reducing software piracy around the world will take much more efforts and investment, but those efforts will pay off in the form of stronger local IT industries that drive broader economic growth," the spokesman said.
The study estimates that, over the next four years, businesses and consumers world-wide will spend 350 billion dollars on PC software. If current trends continue, the study predicts more than 180 billion dollars worth of PC software will be pirated during this period.
The BSA spokesman expressed the need for education, strong government policy, and enforcement activities for winning the global fight against software piracy. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, Cisco Systems, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Macromedia, McAfee, Microsoft, Sybase, Symantec and Synopsys.
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