BUSINESS
Ireland's piracy rate is appalling: BSA
03-06-2003
by
Ireland's software piracy rate has remained unchanged over the last two years, and an industry group established to fight piracy says something must be done.
In its latest report on software piracy worldwide, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) claims that the percentage of illegal software used in Ireland stood at 42 percent for 2002. Although Ireland experienced a dramatic fall from 74 percent piracy in 1994 to 42 percent in 2000, the BSA has been unable to reduce the rate of software piracy here in the last two years.
The new figures reveal that Irish software piracy levels remain above the Western European average of 35 percent. For 2002, the best-performing states in Western Europe were Denmark and Finland, with piracy rates of 24 percent and 25 percent respectively, as well as the UK with a 26 percent rating and Sweden with 29 percent. In fact, Austria, Belgium/Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland all have superior piracy rates to Ireland, according to the BSA, while Portugal scored the same as the Republic with a 42 percent piracy rate.
The worst-scoring country in Western Europe in the 2002 survey was Greece, with a 63 percent piracy rating, while Spain, Italy and France also all had software piracy rates exceeding 42 percent.
"The lack of improvement on Ireland's piracy rate can be attributed to the proliferation of Internet piracy (as it provides an alternative distribution channel for pirated software) and a certain amount of apathy," said Julian McMenamin, BSA Ireland chairman. "But whatever the excuse, a piracy rate of 42 percent is appalling."
McMenamin acknowledged that the current business environment is difficult, but said that companies must nonetheless avoid using illegal software. "It is obvious that bolder measures will have to be taken to combat the continuing problem of piracy in Ireland."
Citing research from IDC, the BSA said that if Irish software piracy was reduced by 10 percentage points over the next four years, the Republic's economy would grow by EUR570 million and 2,400 new high-wage jobs would be created. The Exchequer, meanwhile, would rake in EUR236 million in tax revenues by 2006.
McMenamin also argued that the rate of piracy here undermines Ireland's reputation as a legitimate business base, hurting the county's competitive position. He said the BSA was happy with government efforts to curb the trend in recent years, highlighting the Copyright &
Related Rights Act, but called on the Irish government to adopt educational initiatives to "make this issue more visible."
"We would also welcome trade associations playing a strong role in influencing attitude change to the use of illegal software by informing their members of the importance of corporate governance," McMenamin said.
On a global basis, the study showed that software piracy had decreased ten points over the last eight years to 39 percent. However, worldwide dollar losses due to piracy increased from USD10.97 billion in 2001 to USD13.08 billion in 2002, mostly due to higher software prices. On a regional basis, North America, with a 24 percent software piracy rate, scored best, while Eastern Europe, with a 71 percent piracy rate, ranked worst. The Western European piracy rate of 35 percent has decreased 17 points over the last eight years.
With a piracy rate of just 23 percent, the US scored the best worldwide. Vietnam topped the list of countries with the poorest score, at 95 percent, followed by China at 92 percent, and Indonesia, Russia and the Ukraine, all at 89 percent. Worldwide, every country except Zimbabwe has reduced its rate of piracy since 1994, the year in which the study was first commissioned.
The BSA describes itself as an industry watchdog representing the world's leading software developers, and its members include Adobe, Apple Computer, Macromedia, Microsoft and Symantec.
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