New Delhi: Piracy of software on personal computers (PC) in India has fallen to 69 per centage points for 2007 from 71 per cent in 2006, amid a global trend in which piracy rates dropped in most countries,says a 108-country survey conducted by market research and forecasting firm IDC for the Busines software Alliance.

However, industry losses due to software piracy in India rose to $2 billion in 2007 as compared to $1.28 billion the previous year.

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.

''This report shows that we are making progress in the battle against software piracy, albeit slowly as compared to other nations like Russia, whose piracy rate dropped by 7 points in 2007," says Keshav S Dhakad, chair of the BSA India Committee. "India, as an IT leader, needs a concrete all-inclusive anti-piracy education, engagement and enforcement plan to effectively lower software piracy year on year. This could be achieved if there is a right mix of improvements at all levels, in particular, raising general public awareness, establishing specialized intellectual property rights courts, creating uniform and equipped IPR police cells and fostering greater government-industry-private partnerships.''

''Studies have consistently shown that reducing piracy further would deliver significant benefits for local consumers, local software and services firms, small businesses, government tax collections, and the society and economy at large.''

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.

Piracy rates in India have been on a gradual decline since the last three years though challenges at various fronts still remain. Among the courts, though the Delhi High Court has been pro-active in attacking software piracy quite effectively.

Software piracy affects much more than just the industry revenues. An IDC economic impact study released in January this year found that by reducing PC software piracy in India by 10 per centage points over a period of four years could generate an additional 44,000 new jobs, $3.1 billion in economic growth, and $200 million in tax revenues. The study also predicted an additional $208 million in revenues to local vendors alone.

Other key findings from the 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 per centage points to 38per cent in 2007.
  
• In Asia, the highest-piracy countries were Bangladesh (92per cent), Sri Lanka (90per cent) and Vietnam (85per cent). Among the lowest-piracy countries were Japan (23per cent), Singapore (37per cent) and Taiwan (40per cent).

''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.