63% of computer users in AsiaPac admit they pirate software

And China has the most troubling piracy problem with an illegal software market worth nearly US$9 billion in 2011 versus a legal market of less than US$3 billion.

63%of computer users in Asia Pacific admit they have acquired pirated software, the Business Software Alliance reported in the 2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study. Some users say they pirate all or most of the time. Others say they do it occasionally or rarely. The net effect was to fuel a software piracy rate of 60 percent last year in Asia-Pacific, meaning more than 3 out of 5 programs that users installed were unlicensed. The commercial value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers rose by 12% to nearly US$21 billion in 2011, the highest loss recorded to date.

“If 63 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’s Senior Director Marketing, Asia-Pacific.

36 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 do so only “rarely.” The study also found that admitted software pirates in Asia-Pacific are predominantly male, with 32 percent between the ages of 18-24.

In Asia-Pacific, China has the most troubling piracy problem: its illegal software market was worth nearly US$9 billion in 2011 versus a legal market of less than US$3 billion. Despite its piracy rate dipping from 78 percent in 2010 to 77 percent in 2011, buyers in China spent just US$8.89 per PC on legal software, that is less than a quarter of the amount spent in other BRIC markets.

“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.”

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 US$63.4 billion.