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Government loses $225 million to software pirates

And despite efforts to control piracy, illegal copying and distribution has increased worldwide by an average of 20 per cent, causing losses of about $11.2 billion, according to a study by US-based Business Software Alliance and Software Publishers' Association.

The highest piracy rates are in Eastern Europe where 80 per cent of the software is pirated. North America has the lowest rate in the world, 28 per cent, but has lost the most money - $2.3 billion to piracy.

The highest piracy rate was in Vietnam where 99 per cent of the software is pirated. Bulgaria came second at 98 per cent and China came in third at 96 per cent. Oman and Russia followed with 95 per cent and 91 per cent respectively.

West Europe has a piracy rate of 43 per cent, Latin America of 68 per cent while about 74 per cent of the Gulf countries and Africa use pirated software. Over half the software in India and the Asia Pacific region was pirated, a rate which declined marginally in India due to raids conducted by the National Association of Software and Service Companies.

But the greatest losses in any region occurred in Asia Pacific, which lost $3,700 million in revenue last year. But despite the increase in copying and distribution, piracy rates have dropped in all regions, dropping from 64 per cent the year before in India and the Asia-Pacific region.

But it increased marginally in north America and burgeoned in Bulgaria, partly due to indifferent authorities and because it has become a transit point for CD-ROM disks.

Singapore showed the highest rate of piracy growth in the form of counterfeit CD-ROM disks.

The study only dealt with piracy of business apps, not ones covering specially designed packages for niche markets, including the military. If that was considered, the losses would be significantly higher.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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