Polish pirates rule EU
Some of 58 percent of all installed software in Poland is illegal. This is according to the results of the annual Business Software Alliance's (BSA) and IDC Global Software's study of trends in PC software piracy figure is significantly higher than the EU average of 36 percent. The country with the highest piracy rate in the world is Vietnam (90 percent), while the country with the lowest piracy rate is in the US, with 21 percent. The worldwide rate of piracy remained steady at 35 percent in 2005. However, half the countries analyzed have a piracy rate of 64 percent or higher. The report included 97 countries.
As far as piracy rates in the EU are concerned, Poland comes second after Greece, with 64 percent. The piracy rate in Poland dipped only slightly in 2005 in comparison to 59 percent a year before. "The distance that divides us from our southern neighbors (Czech Republic, 40 percent) or countries of similar size (Spain, 46 percent), shows that much still needs to be done for the protection and respect of intellectual property in Poland in order to reach the levels of the EU's average," says Bartłomiej Witucki, a spokesperson for the Polish division of BSA.
Last year's piracy rate in Poland equaled that of 2003, but industry losses grew by $87 (zł.269) million to $388 (zł.1,199) million. Poland ranks 16th in this respect. With nearly $7 (zł.21.6) billion in losses, the US tops the list. Worldwide losses due to piracy increased by over $1.6 (zł.4.9) billion to over $34 (zł.105) billion.
According to IDC estimates, businesses and consumers around the globe will spend $300 (zł.927) billion on PC software over the next four years, nearly $200 (zł.6.18) billion of which is expected to be pirated. "It remained in 2005 that for every two dollars' worth of PC software purchased legitimately, one dollar's worth was obtained illegally," says the report.
The report stresses that a strong software industry could be an incredible economic engine, while software piracy has many negative economic consequences.
