AZERBAIJAN IS AMONG WORLD’S WORST FOR SOFTWARE THEFT, REPORT SAYS
Today.Az
The Associated Press
15 May 2007 [14:18]
The rate of global software piracy has remained static for three
years but the cost to businesses is rising, the U.S. Business Software
Alliance said Tuesday.
The BSA survey, conducted by the U.S.-based market research firm IDC,
concluded that for every two dollars (Ë~F1.47) spent on legitimate
software, one dollar (Ë~F0.73) went to pirates.
"The bad news is that overall global piracy rates have remained
stagnant," BSA chief executive Robert Holleyman said. "Overall dollar
losses have gone up because the overall market is growing."
Though the piracy rate declined in 62 countries from 2005 to 2006,
those gains were offset by the growth in sales of computers in some
of the areas most blighted by software piracy.
The report claimed 35 percent of the all software installed on
personal computers in 2006 was obtained illegally. It estimated
software vendors could lose about US$180 billion (Ë~F133 billion)
to pirates over the next four years.
Critics say such figures are exaggerated because those obtaining
pirated software are unlikely to have paid for full price software
in any case.
Holleyman said the piracy rate in China, the second-largest market
for personal computers behind the United States, had fallen 10 percent
over three years, saving software companies an estimated US$864 million
(Ë~F638 million).
That drop was offset by an increase in piracy in the Middle East and
Africa, he said.
The report identified Armenia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan as among the
world’s worst for software theft, saying only one in twenty programs
used there was procured legally. The U.S., New Zealand, and Japan are
among the most law abiding — but nearly one in four programs there
were pirated, it said.
Researchers examined the software market in 102 countries, comparing
software sales in each of the countries with estimates of the amount
of software in use.
The report took the difference to be the pirated amount, calculating
losses based on prices for copies of those programs.
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