Business Business News 7 of 10 software unlicensed
7 of 10 software unlicensed
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 16 May 2012 00:30
- Written by IRMA ISIP
By A Web design Company
There is no improvement in software piracy in the Philippines.
The 2011 Business Software Alliance (BSA) Global Software Piracy Study shows that seven out of 10 software in the Philippines are unlicensed.
The 70-percent piracy rate is up slightly by a percentage point from 69 percent in the past four years.
The commercial value of the unlicensed software was 20 percent higher than in 2010 to $338 million, or about P14.6 billion, from $278 million. The Philippines is ranked 12th among countries in Asia-Pacific in software piracy rate.
The study said 57 percent of computer users globally admit they have acquired pirated software, the study said.
Some users say they pirate all or most of the time. Others say they do it occasionally or rarely.
“If 57 percent of consumers admitted they shoplift — even rarely —authorities would react by increasing police patrols and penalties. Software piracy demands a similar response: concerted public education and vigorous law enforcement,” said Roland Chan, BSA senior director for marketing in Asia Pacific.
Thirty-six percent of admitted software pirates in Asia-Pacific surveyed in the study, say they acquire software illegally “all of the time,” “most of the time” or “occasionally,” while 27 percent say they “rarely” do so. The study also found that those who admitted being software pirates in Asia-Pacific are predominantly male, with 32 percent between the ages of 18 to 24.
In the Philippines, the BSA has been a staunch supporter of the government’s efforts to combat software piracy, particularly, the enforcement campaigns of the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) composed of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Optical Media Board (OMB), the Philippine National Police and its latest member, the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL).
BSA has also partnered with the Intellectual Property Coalition (IPC), which is composed of private stakeholder companies coming from different industries, in conducting various educational and awareness generation campaigns on the importance of respecting intellectual property rights for businesses, consumers and the country as a whole.
“Software piracy persists as a drain on the global economy, IT innovation and job creation,” said BSA president and chief executive officer Robert Holleyman.
“Governments must take steps to modernize their IP laws and expand enforcement efforts to ensure that those who pirate software face real consequences,” he said.
Globally, the study finds that piracy rates in emerging markets tower over those in mature markets — 68 percent to 24 percent, on average — and emerging markets account for an overwhelming majority of the global increase in the commercial value of software theft.
This helps explain the market dynamics behind the global software piracy rate, which hovered at 42 percent in 2011 while a steadily expanding marketplace in the developing world drove the commercial value of software theft to $63.4 billion.
