PIRATES LOSING BATTLE

South Africa is making head way in the fight against piracy. The country’s piracy rate remained at 35% despite the doubling of the PC market in 2010, while the commercial value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers in South Africa reached over R3.6 billion last year. This according to the Business Software Alliance’s (BSA) 2010 Global Software Piracy Study, a survey which evaluates the state of software piracy around the world.

“This tells us that despite an increase in the number of PC shipments last year, some progress has been made in keeping software piracy rate in South Africa at bay, said Renee Luus, BSA’s enforcement manager.” However, there is still much more work to be done-the further we reduce software piracy, the better it will be for the South African economy in terms of fostering IT innovation as well as job creation.”

Now in its eighth year, the 2010 Global Software Piracy Study is conducted by BSA in partnership with IDC, the IT industry’s leading market research and forecasting firm, using a methodology that incorporates 182 discrete data inputs for 116 countries and regions around the world. This year’s study has included respondents from South Africa as well as a public-opinion survey of PC users on key social attitudes and behaviour related to software piracy, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs.

According to the survey, 72% of the respondents from South Africa show strong support for inventors as well as intellectual property rights (IPR), on par with the global average. 78% says IPR rewards creativity while 61% says it creates jobs. The survey also found widespread recognition that licensed software is superior to unlicensed software, and that PC users are very aware of legal vs illegal methods to acquire software. 

“Clearly, there is a strong appreciation for the value delivered by legal software in South Africa,” adds Luus. “The results reinforce the need to educate users that software downloaded from Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks is often illegal, and installing software purchased for one computer on multiple home or office PCs is piracy.”

According to Charl Everton, chairperson of the BSA committee in South Africa, the opportunity for piracy is very real but the opportunity to reduce it is even more real because of the IT industry’s relationship with the South African government. “The BSA is encouraged by and welcomes the government’s efforts to focus on reducing software piracy.  We believe the formation of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), an independent body, brings together the skills and knowledge of the Office of Companies and Intellectual Property Enforcement and the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO), is a progressive move by government.  It sends a clear message that government is committed not only to education and awareness, but also compliance and enforcement in the fight against software piracy.”