Decline in SL’s software piracy in 2011

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) reported yesterday in the 2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study that Sri Lanka has recorded a further two percentage point drop in its PC piracy rate in 2011, bringing the rate down from 86% last year to 84% this year. The only other Asian countries that achieved a similar 2 point drop over 2011 are Hong-Kong and Vietnam.

“The 2 percentage point drop in the software piracy rate is a clear indicator that efforts within Sri Lanka to improve the levels of awareness and adherence to intellectual property rights are effective. We are certainly on the right path, as the country journeys towards creating a more vibrant IT industry and a strong off-shoring destination for global IT companies,”said Shalini Ratwatte, Consultant to the BSA Sri Lanka Committee.

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.

“Software piracy persists as a drain on the global economy, IT innovation and job creation,” said BSA president and CEO 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. In Sri Lanka, a further decline is expected in the wake of continued efforts by the government, the National IP Office and the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police.

Other findings from this year's BSA Global Software Piracy Study include:

Globally, the most frequent software pirates are disproportionately young and male - and they are more than twice as likely to live in an emerging economy as they are to live in a mature one (38 to 15 percent).

Business decision makers admit to pirating software more frequently than other users - and they are more than twice as likely as others to say they buy software for one computer and then install it on additional machines in their offices.

Globally, there is strong support for IP rights and protections in principle, but a troubling lack of incentive for pirates to change their behaviour in practice. Just 20 percent of frequent pirates in mature markets - and 15 percent in emerging markets - say the risk of getting caught is a reason not to pirate software.

This is the ninth annual study of global software piracy conducted by BSA in partnership with IDC and Ipsos Public Affairs, two of the world's leading independent research firms. The study methodology involves collecting 182 discrete data inputs and assessing PC and software trends in 116 markets. This year's study also included a survey of 15,000 computer users in 33 countries that together constitute 82 percent of the global PC market.