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Reducing piracy 'may boost economy'

Johannesburg - Reducing South Africa's software piracy rate by 10% in two years instead of four would boost the economic impact by as much as 34%, according to a new study released on Wednesday.

A new study produced by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and IDC, a global IT market research and forecasting firm, entitled: "The Economic Benefits of Reducing Software Piracy", found that reducing software piracy created a ripple effect throughout the economy, generating new spending on related information technology (IT) services and distribution.

That spending, in turn, created jobs and delivered new tax revenues - and the faster the reduction in software piracy, the greater the returns, the research found.

The research found that reducing the 35% personal computer (PC) software piracy rate in South Africa by 10% over four years would create 1 650 high-tech jobs, create R9.1bn in new economic activity, and R967m in new taxes by 2013, with 68% of those benefits expected to remain in the local economy.
 
In addition, the study found that the benefits were compounded by reducing software theft at a faster rate: If South Africa were to reduce piracy by 10% over the next two years instead of four, it would boost the economic activity and tax gains by 34%.

"Reducing software piracy is an opportunity to inject much-needed stimulus into the economy," said Marc Ashwell, vice chairperson for the BSA in South Africa.

"Because selling, servicing and supporting software creates demand for related distribution and services, the impact of software piracy reaches beyond software publishers, starving local distributors and service providers of spending that creates jobs and generates more tax revenues, boosting the local economy."

Globally, the data showed that reducing software piracy by 10 points over the next four years would produce $142bn in new economic activity in the 42 countries studied, with more than 80% accruing to local industries. The reduction would also create nearly 500 000 high-tech jobs and generate roughly $32bn in new tax revenues worldwide.   

Frontloading the gain by reducing piracy 10% in two years compounds the economic benefits by 36%, producing $193bn in new economic activity and generating $43bn in new tax revenues by 2013.

BSA recommended the following actions to effectively reduce software theft around the world, including the promotion of education about the value of intellectual property (IP), and implementation of the World Intellectual Property Organization's Copyright Treaty to create an effective legislative environment for copyright protection, online and offline.

It also called for strong and workable IP enforcement mechanisms, as required by the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, including providing for vigorous enforcement of misappropriation and infringement of new software innovations such as cloud computing technologies.

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