Asia biggest culprit for software piracy: BSA survey

Asia biggest culprit for software piracy: BSA survey

Bernice Han, Agence France-Presse, Singapore

The Asia Pacific region is the biggest center for software
piracy with more money lost to the industry in the region last
year than anywhere else in the world, a producers' association
said on Tuesday.

An annual survey carried out by the Business Software Alliance
(BSA) showed the region accounted for 43 percent of world losses
from software piracy in 2002 or an all time high of US$5.5
billion.

Announcing the findings of the survey, BSA vice president and
regional director Jeffrey Hardee told a media conference that the
Asia Pacific stood to lose heavily in economic terms if the
problem was not brought under control.

If illegal use of software dropped by 10 percent, more than
1.1 million jobs would be created in the region with direct
economic benefits of $170 billion, Hardee said.

Additionally, the regional information technology (IT) sector,
now worth $175 billion, could potentially increase to $330
billion and government coffers would swell by more than $15
billion, he said.

Hardee described this is as the "opportunity cost" to Asia if
piracy levels did not improve.

"There's a ripple effect on the economy. So the way forward is
Asia will benefit if it invests in intellectual property
protection," he said.

The eighth BSA survey on illegal use of software showed North
America ranked best with a piracy level of 24 percent, followed
by Western Europe with 35 percent, and Asia Pacific and Latin
America each at 55 percent.

In dollar terms, the Asia Pacific far outweighed any region
with China singled out as the main culprit, the survey showed.

China's software piracy level in 2002 was 92 percent, the
second highest in the world behind neighboring Vietnam, on 95
percent.

"For the first time, China is the country with the largest
dollar losses," the BSA said.

"China's high piracy rate, combined with the strength of its
growing economy, created losses of $2.4 billion in 2002.

"This represents 44 percent of the total dollar losses in the
Asia Pacific region and 18 percent of the total world dollar
losses."

On the bright side however, the Chinese government is making
efforts to improve the situation now that it is part of the World
Trade Organization where intellectual property rights have to be
protected, Hardee said.

"The law itself has improved," Hardee said, referring to steps
taken by Beijing to improve intellectual property rights.

Still, more needs to be done.

"The government is updating its legislation but we need to
have a massive education program."

Of the 15 regional economies surveyed by BSA, six experienced
growing rates of illegal use of software from 2001 -- Australia,
Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The remaining nine -- China, India, Japan, Malaysia, New
Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand -- saw either
an improvement or no change in their rates.

China's rate stayed the same but, with the economy growing,
the value of piracy there sky-rocketed.

Globally, software piracy resulted in losses of $13.08 billion
in 2002 to the industry, the study showed.

The BSA is a non-profit organization whose members include
some of the biggest names in the industry such as Microsoft,
Symantec and Adobe.