Software piracy: Sink the pirates

If software piracy in Poland was reduced from the present level of 57 percent to 46 percent by 2011, almost 2,000 workplaces would be created, local businesses would see a zł.2.68-billion increase in revenues and the state budget could count on zł.267.8 million in additional funds, according to a recently published study.

The Economic Benefits of Reducing PC Software Piracy report, commissioned by the Business Software Alliance and written by International Data Corporation (IDC) is based on research on 42 countries which together accounted for more than 90 percent of global IT spending in 2007.

Cutting piracy would be profitable not only for the IT branch, but other sectors as well, BSA claims. "One person employed in the IT sector generates four-and-a-half workplaces in other industries which derive revenue from [cooperation with the IT industry]," said the spokesman for BSA in Poland, Bartłomiej Witucki.

With an estimated 57 percent of all software pirated, Poland ranked worse last year than the Czech Republic (39 percent) or Hungary (42 percent), according to IDC's 2007 Global Software Piracy Study. The data from the report suggested that the Polish economy lost around $484 (zł.1,181) million in 2006 due to piracy.

Witucki stressed that the issue concerned all types of institutions, regardless of the amount of revenue involved. "Piracy occurs even in very prosperous companies," he said, adding that the problem is particularly visible in those sectors which use expensive software, such as architectural and construction companies.

The examples of China and Russia show that a 10 percent reduction of piracy in three years is possible and brings tangible effects, said Witucki. However, achieving this goal in three years is unlikely for Poland. "I think that six percent is a realistic number, though," Witucki concluded.