For Immediate Release

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Sujittra Yingpoemmongkol
Vero PR
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  Bangkok (Wednesday, May 14) - Piracy of software on personal computers (PC) in Thailand fell two percentage point from 80% in 2006 to 78% in 2007, amid a global trend in which piracy rates dropped in most countries. Industry losses due to software piracy in Thailand rose to US$468 million in 2007. 

These are among the findings of the fifth annual global PC software piracy study released today by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an international association representing the global software industry. The study covers 108 countries and was conducted independently by IDC, the information technology (IT) industry’s leading global market research and forecasting firm.

“This report shows that Thailand has taken a step in the right direction, but has more work to do in the battle against software piracy,” said Tarun Sawney, BSA Director of Anti-Piracy in Asia.   “Reducing piracy further would deliver significant benefits for local consumers, local software and services firms, small businesses, and the society at large.”

“As we look at anti-piracy efforts in Southeast Asia, we see momentum growing against software pirates in Thailand,” said Sawney.  “We have seen the Department of Intellectual Property recently launch a major educational campaign targeted at the business sector.  We see strong commitment by Thai police authorities to use enforcement as a tool to underline the seriousness of the law.  And we see senior government officials starting to be more vocal in support of intellectual property rights for software developers.  If this continues, we believe that further reductions are realistic, and this would be good news for the Thai economy and for jobs.”

An IDC economic impact study released in January this year found that reducing software piracy in Thailand by ten percentage points in four years could create 2,100 new jobs, 30 billion baht in economic growth and 1.65 billion baht in tax revenues above current projections.

“Clearly, the reduction of software piracy in Thailand would generate economic benefits for the country,” said Siripat Patrangul, BSA spokesperson in Thailand. “But it is also important to remind software users of the productivity gains and enhanced security offered by genuine software.”

Other key findings from the fifth annual global PC software piracy study:

• Among the 108 countries studied, PC software piracy dropped in sixty-seven countries, and increased in only eight. However, because the worldwide PC market grew fastest in high-piracy countries, the worldwide piracy rate increased by three percentage points to 38% in 2007. 

• In Asia, the highest-piracy countries were Bangladesh (92%), China (82%), Indonesia (84%), Pakistan (84%) Sri Lanka (90%) and Vietnam (85%). Among the lowest-piracy countries were Australia (28%), Japan (23%), and New Zealand (22%).

“This study shows that government and industry anti-piracy efforts are delivering software piracy reductions in many countries; however, rapid PC growth in higher-piracy emerging markets translates into an overall increase in global piracy,” said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC. “We expect this trend to continue, meaning industry and government must increasingly focus their efforts on combating piracy in these emerging economies.” 

BSA advocates a five-point “blueprint” for reducing software piracy and reaping the economic benefits:

• Increase public education and awareness of the value of intellectual property and the risks of using unlicensed software;

• Update national copyright laws to implement World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) obligations in order to enable better and more effective enforcement against digital and online piracy;

• Create strong enforcement mechanisms as required by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS), including tough anti-piracy laws;

• Dedicate significant government resources to the problem, including national IP enforcement units, cross-border cooperation, and training for local officers and judiciary officials; and

• Lead by example by implementing software management policies and requiring the public sector to use only legitimate software. 

The BSA-IDC Global Software Piracy Study covers piracy of all packaged software that runs on personal computers, including desktops, laptops, and ultra-portables. The study does not include other types of software such as server- or mainframe-based software. IDC used proprietary statistics for software and hardware shipments and enlisted IDC analysts in more than sixty countries to confirm software piracy trends.

For more details or a copy of the complete study, visit www.bsa.org/globalstudy.

About the Business Software Alliance
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA members include Adobe, Agilent Technologies, Altium, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CA, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Corel, Dell, EMC, Frontline PCB Solutions - An Orbotech Valor Company, HP, IBM, Intel, INUS Technology, McAfee, Microsoft, Mindjet, Minitab, Monotype Imaging, PTC, Quark, Quest Software, SAP, SAS Institute, Siemens PLM Software, SolidWorks, SPSS, Sybase, Symantec, Synopsys, Tekla, ThaiSoftware, The MathWorks and Trend Micro.

About International Data Corporation (IDC)
IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For more than 44 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.