By Simon Aughton -
Software piracy in the UK declined slightly in 2004 but 27 per cent of software on computers was illegal, according to the Business Software Alliance's Global Piracy Study. The value of pirated software was put at more than £1bn.
The UK remains below the European average of 35 per cent. The worst offender was France, at 45 per cent, which is put down to the large proportion of small businesses in the country.
'The level of software piracy remains unacceptably high,' comments 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.'
In its election manifesto, the Labour Party committed itself to modernising 'copyright and other forms of protection of intellectual property rights so that they are appropriate for the digital age' and using the UK's presidency of the EU 'to look at how to ensure content creators can protect their innovations in a digital age'.
The BSA says it will focus on ensuring that the new government sticks to its promise and has the backing of chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Intellectual Property Protection.
'Software piracy continues to be a major challenge but the Government is fully committed to bringing the piracy rate down further, said Janet Anderson MP. 'Protecting intellectual property will play a key role in the future prosperity of the UK. Piracy stifles innovation and creativity and has a significant impact on employment, economic growth and public spending.'
UK industry body the CBI warned businesses that piracy may also have security implications.
'Software piracy doesn't just affect the software industry but also causes serious problems for British industry as a whole through the loss of quality control that legitimate suppliers provide,' said Dr Jeremy Beale, head of the CBI's eBusiness Group. 'Companies must ensure their software is licensed and up to date to avoid business disruption caused by viruses, spyware and other pernicious software that is often inserted in pirated copies of the genuine article.'
The Institute of Directors pointed to the importance of accurate software auditing.
'We think that effective software asset management is an increasingly important issue for businesses in the UK,' said Patricia Peter, head of Corporate Governance at the IoD. 'Particularly as small and medium sized businesses become increasingly reliant on technology, it's imperative that company directors take a strategic approach to managing their software assets'
The BSA added that software asset management not only ensures that all software is properly licensed, it can also reduce costs by identifying over-licensing and over-deployment of hardware, reducing IT administration and support costs and enabling businesses to measure the return on software investment.
Worldwide, more than half of the 71 countries surveyed illegal software accounted for more than 60 per cent of the total while in 24 countries it passed 75 per cent. The total cost was put at $32.7bn
The full report is available as a PDF from www.bsa.org/globalstudy.
This appears to be the trend. The report estimates that in five years' time two-thirds of all software could be pirated.
Source: PC Pro UK
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