Although piracy of software on personal computers (PC) declined in many countries in 2007, fast growing PC markets in some of the world’s highest piracy nations caused overall numbers to worsen—a trend that is expected to continue. Moreover, dollar lossesfrom piracy rose by $8 billion to nearly $48 billion.

These are among the findings of the Fifth Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA). The study was conducted by IDC, the information technology industry’s leading global market research and forecasting firm.

Of the 108 countries included in the report, the use of pirated software dropped in sixty-seven, and rose in only eight. However, because the worldwide PC market grew fastest in high-piracy countries, the worldwide PC software piracy rate increased by three percentage points to 38% in 2007.

Software piracy negatively affects much more than just the industry. It also puts a strain on technology companies’ ability to invest in new jobs and new technologies; harms local resellers and services firms; lowers government tax revenues; and increases the risk of cyber crime and security problems. A recent IDC study conducted for BSA found that reducing software piracy by ten percentage points over four years could deliver billions in economic growth and hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Information by: http://global.bsa.org/idcglobalstudy2007/