The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has
called for stronger government action on
software piracy, after it published an analyst study claiming
that 27% of software used on UK PCs last year was
illegal.
The study was commissioned by the BSA from analyst IDC, and the
27%
illegal software rate was the same for the third year running.
The BSA said this demonstrated that more government action was
needed to help stamp out software piracy.
“The current penalties are not a sufficient deterrent against
the use of counterfeit or unlicensed software,” claimed the BSA,
which is financed by major software companies.
“Despite continuing efforts by the software industry to educate
and advise companies of the risks of illegal software, and raise
awareness of its impact on the UK software industry as well as the
wider economy, many UK businesses still flout software licensing
regulations,” the BSA said.
The BSA and IDC said illegal UK software resulted in a loss to
local and international software publishers of £878m in 2006.
“The UK remains in a situation where almost one out of every
three software installations is illegal,” said Sarah Coombes,
director for legal affairs at BSA EMEA.
“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.
Across Western Europe, the BSA said the piracy rate decreased by
one percentage point last year to 34%.
Piracy rates in Central and Eastern Europe also dropped by one
point to 68%, but due to faster economic growth, estimated losses
increased massively from £453m to £2.15bn.
UK businesses still using counterfeit software >>
Microsoft targets SMEs in blitz on illegal software
>>
Business Software
Alliance: read the report >>
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