Software piracy increases in Asia-Pacific: industry group

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Software piracy increased last year in the Asia-Pacific region, boosted by China's growing use of personal computers, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Asia-Pacific's average PC software piracy rate in 2007 increased to 59 percent of the software in use in the region from 55 percent the previous year, said the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which works to fight piracy.

The increase was largely because of China's growing share of the region's overall PC market, it said.

Losses from software piracy in the region rose to more than 14 billion US dollars in 2007 from almost 12 billion dollars in 2006, BSA said as it released a global study of the problem.

BSA's members include Microsoft, Apple, McAfee and other major industry...