Software piracy costs EU business €9.4bn

EU software piracy rates increased slightly last year at a cost to business of €9.4bn, finds a 2005 study.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and IDC survey puts Europe’s piracy rate up one per cent to 36 per cent in 2005.

Costs fell slightly on 2004’s €9.5bn but the problem is a persistent one for Europe’s software manufacturers.

Problems remain particularly acute on Europe’s eastern and southern borders and high rates of piracy are also noted in countries set to join the EU.

New EU Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have rates up to 20 per cent above Europe’s average – perhaps due to proximity to Russia where piracy accounts for 83 per cent of software.

Poland too had piracy rates running at 58 per cent, ahead of Slovenia on 50 per cent and Hungary on 42 per cent.

The issue is a pressing one for Bulgaria, 71 per cent and Romania, 72 per cent – both are set to join the EU in January 2007.

Within the old EU Greece topped the 2005 piracy charts at 64 per cent, followed by Italy on 53 per cent and France at 47 per cent.

In Italy and France – and similarly above average countries for piracy, Spain and Portugal – the high number of small businesses and consumers posses enforcement problems.

Under European commission proposals software piracy is set to become a criminal matter, involving possible penal sanctions with offences also defined at the EU level.

But the BSA also notes that more needs to be done to raise public awareness of a crime many citizens regard as victimless.

“Reducing software piracy often requires a fundamental shift in the public’s attitude toward software piracy,” notes the report.

“Governments can increase public awareness of the importance of respecting creative works by informing the public about the consequences of disobeying the law, expressing their intent to strictly enforce those laws and encouraging the use of legitimate software.”

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