While software piracy levels fell in all other world regions last year, it rose 4% in the Asia-Pacific region, to 51% from 47%, in 1999, according to an independent survey released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a watchdog group representing the world's leading software manufacturers. In addition, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for the world's largest piracy losses in 2000; at nearly US$4.1 billion, these losses accounted for 35% of the world total.
The sixth annual benchmark survey on global software piracy, conducted for the BSA by independent research firm International Planning and Research Corp (IPR), highlights the serious impact of copyright infringement, with piracy losses nearing US$11.8 billion worldwide in 2000. The continuing software piracy problem signifies lost jobs, wages and tax revenues, and a potential barrier to innovation and product development around the world.
As is the case every year, the survey has been published, software piracy in many markets in the Asia-Pacific region is of overwhelming proportions. The three highest piracy rates in the world were found in Vietnam, China and Indonesia, crippling their software industries. From 1999 to 2000, Japan's piracy rate increased 19% (to a total of 37%) and Korea's increased 12% (to a total of 56%). The countries with the highest dollar losses in the region were Japan (US$1.6 billion), China (US$1.1 billion) and Korea (US$302 million).
Hong Kong's piracy rate had decreased between 1998 (59%) to 1999 (56%), but this positive trend turned around in 2000, with the piracy rate jumping to 57%. Losses to piracy in Hong Kong in 2000 totalled more than US$86 million.
"The results of the survey show that, yet again, piracy is crippling the development of the software industry in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry is very concerned about the increase in the piracy rate in several key markets, including Hong Kong," says Tom Robertson, vice president of the BSA. "Governments that want to develop their software industries must address this problem, which means more than anything else tackling the problem of corporate end user piracy," continued Robertson. "Of all the territories in the region, Hong Kong and Korea have done the most in the past half year to support their software industries. While the recent entry into force of the Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2000 in Hong Kong was significant, the Hong Kong Government's massive public education campaign to increase awareness of the law and compliance with it has been even more important. These efforts are key to the development of the IT industry and Hong Kong's development as a knowledge-based economy."
The Global Software Piracy Study unveiling coincides with the launch of International Sweeps Week, a campaign announcing 159 settlements, for a total exceeding US$6.2 million with companies and organisations in the United States, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Middle East, South Africa and Latin America.
For the first time in the study's history, the world piracy rate did not decline in 2000, but remained almost constant with the 1999 rate, with a one percentage-point increase to 37%. The dollar losses due to piracy declined 3.5% from 1999 from US$12.2 billion to just under US$11.8 billion. North America, Asia-Pacific and Western Europe once again account for the majority (87%) of revenue losses.
The 10 countries with the highest piracy rates are (in rank order): Vietnam 97%; China 94%; Indonesia 89%; Ukraine/Other CIA 89%; Russia 88%; Lebanon 83%; Pakistan 83%; Bolivia 81%; Qatar 81%; and Bahrain 80%.
This is the sixth study conducted by IPR. This study evaluated sales data and market information for 85 countries in the six major world regions and was based on 26 different business software applications. The study compares 2000 piracy rates and dollars lost to software piracy to similar data gathered between 1994-1999.