The cost of lost sales for national and international software
publishers based in the UK is put at £1 billion by the BSA, which
is up on last year's figure.
"The level of software piracy remains unacceptably high," said
Siobhan Carroll, Regional Manager Northern Europe, BSA. "While
ongoing campaigns by ourselves and other creative industries will
help raise awareness of the piracy problem and respect for
intellectual property, the support of the Government will be
crucial in bringing the rate down."
The BSA called upon the Labour Government to fulfil its rather
vague manifesto pledge to "modernise copyright and other forms of
protection of intellectual property rights so that they are
appropriate for the digital age".
In particular the BSA urged the Government to use its
forthcoming presidency of the EU to implement the controversial
Enforcement Directive in the UK and set a standard to other members
of the EU, many of which have an even higher piracy rate than the
UK.
Germany and Belgium have piracy rates of 29%, while the
Netherlands and Norway have rates of 30% and 31% respectively.
Within Europe, only Austria and Sweden have lower rates than the
UK, at 25% and 26%.
While the worldwide piracy rate was down on 2003, worldwide
losses due to piracy had also increased, from $29 billion to $33
billion – an increase that may be due in part to a 6% growth in the
PC software market and a devaluation of the dollar, says the
BSA.
The countries with the highest piracy rates are Vietnam (92%),
Ukraine (91%) and China (90%). The lowest rate was found in the US
(21%), followed by New Zealand (23%), Austria and Sweden. The UK
has the fifth lowest rate of software piracy in the world,
according to the BSA.
Piracy rates have decreased in 37 countries, but have increased
in 34 countries. In more than half of the 87 countries studied, the
piracy rate exceeded 60%. In 24 countries the piracy rate was more
than 75%.
For its analysis, IDC drew upon its worldwide data for software
and hardware shipments, conducted more than 7,000 interviews in 23
countries, and used its in-country analysts around the globe to
evaluate local market conditions.
