Software Piracy Still On The Rise - $50 Billion Loss in 2008

According to the BSA (Business Software Alliance), software piracy in 2008 dropped in half of the 110 countries that BSA studied. However, the worldwide piracy rate rose for the second year in the row, from 38% to 41%.

In another sign of the scale of the problem, the monetary value of unlicensed software losses to software companies broke the $50 billion level for the first time. Worldwide losses grew by 11 percent to $53.0 billion in non-adjusted dollars, although half of that growth was the result of the falling US dollar. Excluding the effect of exchange rates, losses grew by 5 percent to $50.2 billion. This compares to a legitimate PC software market of $88 billion in 2008, and a personal computer market of $244 billion.

The US has the lowest piracy rate in the world coming in at only 20% of software piracy but in contrast the US has the largest dollar loss from piracy at $9.1 billion. This is because the US has the largest software market in the world.

"We are continuing to make progress against PC software piracy in many countries, which helps people working in the US-led global software industry. That's the good news," said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman. "The bad news is that PC software piracy remains so prevalent in the United States and all over the world, Holleyman added. It undermines local IT service firms, gives illegal software users an unfair advantage in business, and spreads security risks. We should not and cannot tolerate a $9 billion hit on the software industry at a time of economic stress."

The regions with the highest piracy include Europe at 67% and Latin America at 65%.