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11 May 2010
Comments:3
The level of software piracy in the UK has remained flat in the past year, claims a joint study by the IDC and Business Software Alliance (BSA).
According to the findings of the organisations’ seventh annual Global Piracy Study, the UK piracy rate remained unchanged between 2008 and 2009 at 27 per cent, equating to a loss of £1bn from the economy last year.
Piracy was at the same level as far back as 2006 and Michala Wardell, chair of the BSA’s UK committee, said the lack of change in the UK’s level of software piracy was both good and bad news for the channel.
Further reading
“It is good that the situation has not got any worse,” she said. “But the fact remains that £1bn is still a lot of money to lose from the economy and it’s the channel that will be hit hardest because they lose sales.”
The figure marks the UK out as having the sixth lowest software piracy rate in the world. The US came top with 20 per cent, Luxembourg and Japan were joint second at 21 per cent and Denmark came third at 26 per cent.
The worst-performing countries in the survey were Georgia (95 per cent), Zimbabwe (92 per cent) and, in joint third position, Bangladesh and Moldova (91 per cent).
Overall, the worldwide piracy rate increased from 41 per cent in 2008 to 43 per cent in 2009, with the IDC attributing this to the growing number of software deployments in emerging economies, such as India, China and Brazil.
Out of the 111 countries that were included in the survey, 49 per cent showed some level of improvement in their overall piracy levels in 2009, while the situation had worsened in 17 per cent of the countries polled.
Robert Holleyman, president of the BSA, said: “The BSA/IDC Global Piracy Study shows there was some progress in the global fight against software piracy in 2009, but incremental change is not enough.
“Our report makes it very clear that governments around the world must redouble their efforts to combat software theft.”
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Do you agree?
Rubbish.
"equating to a loss of £1bn from the economy last year."
Rubbish.
How many of those businesses can't afford the obscenely overpriced software and would not exist if they could not use unlicensed copies? How much do those businesses contribute to the economy? If 27% are using 'pirate' software you can bet that they contribute more than a billion.
Then you would expect a group that makes money from 'piracy' to take such things into consideration. Less business for them.
Posted by Joe | 11 May 2010
SAM vendors and organisations need to step up efforts against software piracy
The fact that the annual piracy rate has not moved over the last year should be a cause for concern for organisations everywhere. During the recession, audit rates rose substantially and, despite signs of recovery, we fully expect this to continue rising in 2010. Both organisations and software vendors need to do more to lower this consistently high level of piracy. As organisations look to grow once more, they need to ensure they are fully compliant, as a resulting fine from an audit is the last thing they need in a still precarious economy. Software Asset Management vendors also need to be doing more to guarantee their products are not being used illegally. Only when both parties step up their efforts will we see improved growth in IT, and this figure finally starts to lower significantly.
Posted by Matt Fisher, Director, FrontRange Solutions. | 11 May 2010
correction
Then again you would NOT expect a group that makes money from 'piracy' to take such things into consideration.
Posted by Joe | 11 May 2010
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