Dubai, 14th May 2012 (WAM) -- Business Software Alliance (BSA), the global organisation that is the voice of the global commercial software industry, has revealed details of the 9th Annual Global Software Piracy Study which shows that the overall software piracy rate in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region stood at 58% in 2011, while the commercial value of unlicensed software amounted to just under $4.2bn in the region.

The BSA has also emphasised that more significant steps need to be taken by the local authorities to improve the piracy rates of the countries in the Gulf region. "We are committed to stepping up our anti-piracy initiatives in the Gulf region to curb piracy levels and we will continue to work closely with key government agencies and private sector organisations to create greater awareness about the negative impact of intellectual property right violation and software piracy across the Gulf," said Jawad Al Redha, Business Software Alliance Chair, Gulf Region.

The gradual progress many countries are making in lowering piracy rates across the world demonstrates the value of sustained anti-piracy efforts that build equity over time. The BSA confirmed that there are proven steps that governments around the world can take to effectively reduce software theft:Increase public education and raise awareness about software piracy and IP rights in cooperation with industry and law enforcement.

Modernize protections for software and other copyrighted materials to keep pace with new innovations such as cloud computing and the proliferation of networked mobile devices.

Strengthen enforcement of IP laws with dedicated resources, including specialized enforcement units, training for law enforcement and judiciary officials and improved cross-border cooperation among law enforcement agencies.

Lead by example by using only fully licensed software, implementing software asset management (SAM) programs, and promoting the use of legal software in state-owned enterprises, and among all contractors and suppliers.

"Our experience around the world suggests that when the Government becomes actively involved in driving long-term educational and awareness initiatives and taking appropriate enforcement action to ensure that those that pirate face real consequences, then significant reductions in software piracy rates become a reality for a country. This will benefit the local economy, drive IT innovation and support job creation," said Dale Waterman, Corporate Attorney for Anti-Piracy for the Middle East and Africa region at Microsoft, a member of the BSA.

Global perspectiveGlobally, the study finds that piracy rates in emerging markets tower over those in mature markets 68% to 24%, on average and emerging markets account for an overwhelming majority of the global increase in the commercial value of software theft. This helps explain the market dynamics behind the global software piracy rate, which hovered at 42% in 2011 while a steadily expanding marketplace in the developing world drove the commercial value of software theft to $63.4bn.

Other findings from this year's BSA Global Software Piracy Study include:Globally, the most frequent software pirates are disproportionately young and male and they are more than twice as likely to live in an emerging economy as they are to live in a mature one (38 to 15%).

Business decision makers admit to pirating software more frequently than other users and they are more than twice as likely as others to say they buy software for one computer and then install it on additional machines in their offices.

Globally, there is strong support for IP rights and protections in principle, but a troubling lack of incentive for pirates to change their behaviour in practice. Just 20% of frequent pirates in mature markets and 15% in emerging markets say the risk of getting caught is a reason not to pirate software.

This is the ninth annual study of global software piracy conducted by BSA in partnership with IDC and Ipsos Public Affairs, two of the world's leading independent research firms. The study methodology involves collecting 182 discrete data inputs and assessing PC and software trends in 116 markets. This year's study also included a survey of 15,000 computer users in 33 countries that together constitute 82 per cent of the global PC market.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2012.