Software piracy costing $61m

The Republic continues to rank among the worst offenders in Europe for software piracy, despite a slight improvement in its piracy figures last year, according to a new report.

It concludes that illegal copying and distribution of software programmes in the Republic resulted in losses of $61 million (€55.23 million) to legitimate operators last year.

The Republic's rate of software piracy now stands at 56 per cent meaning that more than one in two business software applications are an illegal copy. Only Spain and Greece, with 57 per cent and 74 per cent respectively have higher piracy rates.

Despite its poor record, the Republic has reduced its piracy rate by 9 per cent on 1997. This compares with only a 3 per cent reduction in the European software piracy rate over the same period.

The largest losses to European companies in the software sector from software piracy occurred in Germany ($479 million), Britain ($465 million) and France ($425 million).

The report, prepared by the International Planning and Research Corporation for the Business Software Alliance and the Software and Information Industry Association, found that losses from software piracy between 1997 and 1998 grew in North America by $100 million, and Western Europe by $250 million. The Republic's losses increased by more than $14 million.

Mr Austin McCabe, chairman of BSA Ireland said despite the software industry's huge importance in terms of jobs and training and Exchequer receipts, "our appalling level of computer software theft" was undermining the industry's future potential. "It is also seriously damaging the reputation of Ireland as a legitimate business base for global computer companies," he said.

His association has welcomed recent Cabinet approval of the Copyright and Related Rights Bill 1999. The new legislation will strengthen copyright legislation here and extend the BSA's powers of enforcement.

Under the new Act, the onus of proof which had rested with companies to prove their software had been pirated, will shift to the defendant who must instead prove the software was not pirated.

Within the software industry, piracy is widely viewed as the biggest obstacle to the sector's growth.