Software piracy rate declines in RP
Manila Times
Software piracy rates in the Philippines declined to 69 percent in 2007 from 71 percent in 2006, according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
Despite this, BSA Asia Pacific vice president and regional director Jeffrey Hardee said that losses by its member companies in the Philippines from software piracy increased to $147 million in 2007 from $119 million in 2006.
Hardee credited the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team for the decreased piracy rates and said, “we at the BSA are happy to see this reduction.”
The anti-piracy team is composed of the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police and Optical Media Board, which conducted raids on business establishments suspected to be using and selling illegally copied software.
Hardee attributed the paradox of decreased piracy rates but heightened losses by BSA members to the stronger peso. That factor, along with the expanded market for personal computers and software, brought about the losses.
Hardee said the proliferation of unbranded computers that are locally assembled is one of the causes of piracy in the country. Such computers, which comprise 50 percent of all personal computers in the Philippines, usually use pirated software.
“This is a challenge the BSA and the Philippines will have to address,” Hardee said.
He said the BSA is asking the Philippine Congress to pass bills implementing World Intellectual Property Office treaties to which the country is a signatory.” We hope these [bills] will be passed this year,” he said.
Documents furnished by BSA showed Bangladesh had the highest piracy rates in Asia at 92 percent, followed by Sri Lanka at 90 percent and Vietnam at 85 percent. The Philippines was not in the list of countries in the world with the highest piracy rates, which included the three Asia-Pacific countries.
The Philippines’ piracy rate tied India’s at 69 percent. India is today regarded as the Philippines primary competitor for outsourced e-services.
–Ike Suarez
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