Software Pirating Decreases Slightly

The incidence of illegal software reproduction and sales, often referred to as pirating, decreased in Costa Rica last year, making it the Latin American country with the lowest rate of pirating, according to the results of a study released Tuesday by Business Software Alliance (BSA), an international software developers’ organization.

In Costa Rica, 66% of software was found to be pirated, compared to 68% in Latin America in the independent study carried out by International Data Corporation (IDC) last year of 97 countries.

The study, which examined programs installed in personal and business computers, estimated that pirating led to losses of $19 million in Costa Rica in 2005.

Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile saw reductions in the amount of pirated software, while Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela saw increases.

As a region, Latin America showed a “significantly higher” rate of pirating than the worldwide average of 35%, the statement said.

“Despite the slow progress in the reduction of pirated software for personal computers in various emerging markets in the world, Latin America continues to show a worrisome increasing rate of pirated software,” said BSA president Robert Holleyman.

The study estimated economic losses resulting from pirating in the region at $2 billion in 2005, $500 million more than in 2004.