Pirates winning UK software battle

Harsher punishments are needed for software pirates as rate remains the same for third year running

Piracy levels in the UK have stuck at 27 per cent for the third year running according to the latest results from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and analyst firm IDC.

In its Global Software Piracy Study, the BSA revealed that the loss to software vendors and their channel partners reached $1.67bn in 2006.

Sarah Coombes, director, legal affairs BSA EMEA said: “The UK remains in a situation where almost one out of every three software installations is illegal. This is costing the software industry billions of dollars and putting UK businesses at risk.

“Despite attempts to educate businesses, and increased efforts to enforce the licensing laws by the government and the industry, it is clear that more must be done,” she said.