U.S.-headquartered non-profit software industry organization Business Software Alliance has revealed that the software piracy rate in China has decreased from 90% in 2004 to 80% in 2008.

According to BSA, during the entire year of 2008, the world's software piracy rate continued to increase, of which, the piracy rate of PC software was 41%, which brought losses of USD53 billion to the industry. Statistics show that the world's PC software piracy rate was 38% in 2007 and the number increased to 41% in 2008, though countries such as China and Russia had gained some successes in their anti-piracy campaigns. In 2008, the sales of PC software across the world increased by 14% to USD88 billion.

Robert Holleyman, president of BSA, said the anti-piracy campaigns in some countries have gained successes and the piracy rate in nearly half of all countries showed decreases, the piracy rate in one-third of these countries maintained the former level, but the total pirated value was still rising. Holleyman said the piracy rate in the United States is currently about 20%, which is the lowest in the world.

The software piracy rate in China decreased from 90% in 2004 to 80% in 2008 and that in Russia also decreased by 5% to 68%. Holleyman said this result in the Chinese market is mainly attributed to the government's promotion of authentic software and the joint efforts of Internet service providers.

At present, there are seven countries where the software piracy rate is still over 90%, including Georgia, Bangladesh, Armenia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, and Moldova.

Related Links:

• http://www.miit.gov.cn

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