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$13 Billion Lost Worldwide to Software Piracy

Piracy in the U.S. drops 5 percent from last year.

By Sari Kalin, PCWorld   

Software piracy worldwide amounted to an estimated $13 billion last year, nearly a $1 billion increase over the previous year, according to a new study commissioned by two software industry groups.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Software Publishers%squot Association (SPA) commissioned a desktop application piracy study to get a baseline for future studies, officials said. It is the first such research the trade organizations have completed together.

The percentage of pirated software installed on PCs ranged from a low of 26 percent in the United States to a high of 99 percent in Vietnam, officials said. Piracy in the U.S. dropped 5 percent from 1994 estimates; but this country still reported the largest piracy-related revenue losses ($2.9 billion) because of the size of the U.S. computer market.

Even though overall piracy rates have improved slightly in each region since 1994, based on an International Planning & Research review of data collected by the SPA and the BSA, education and enforcement efforts must continue, officials said.

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