PC software piracy biggest drop in Sri Lanka

Installations of unlicensed software on PCs in Sri Lanka fell by three percentage points, in 2009 to 2010 and this is the highest drop recorded in Asia and the Pacific.

However, the commercial value of pirated software rose to US$83 million from US$77 million against a backdrop of increased PC shipments for the year, Business Software Alliance (BSA) 2010 Global Software Piracy Study said.

"In Sri Lanka, the consistent efforts of the National Intellectual Property Office and the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), and their respective anti-piracy drive including policy initiatives, awareness, education and infrastructure have contributed towards lowering the piracy rate.

The establishment of the Anti-Piracy & Counterfeit Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police has also played a pivotal role in curbing infringement of intellectual property rights. The improvements seen are a credit to the vision of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Government of Sri Lanka', BSA Senior Director Roland Chan said. "Despite the improvements recorded in most markets in the Asia Pacific region, these findings show that the fight against software piracy remains a critical issue and there is still much work still to be done. Both PC software piracy rates and the value of pirated software in Asia Pacific have risen compared to a year ago," Chan said.

The commercial value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers in the Asia Pacific region reached a record US$18.7 billion in 2010 as 60 percent of software deployed on personal computers (PCs) during the year was pirated, more than double the losses of US$7.5 billion in 2003.