Software piracy declines in India

However,in India,it declined to 64 per cent from 65 per cent in 2009,according to the 2010 BSA Global Software Piracy Study.

“The trend of piracy rate decline in India is positive for the industry. End-users in India value the fact that software has been developed with great efforts. There is a need to spread awareness on piracy,” Business Software Alliance Director¿India Lizum Mishra said.

“A lot of end users are not clear on the legitimate and illegitimate use of software,” she added.

BSA estimates show that the commercial value of unlicenced software installed on personal computers in India touched USD 2.739 billion in 2010,whereas the global losses stood at USD 59 billion.

The study found Georgia has the highest piracy rate of 93 per cent,while the lowest was observed in the US,Japan and Luxembourg at 20 per cent. The piracy rate was higher in countries neighbouring India,like Bangladesh (90 per cent),Sri Lanka (86 per cent) and Pakistan (84 per cent).

Though Mishra did not share a break-up of the market segments accounting for the most piracy,she said most of the losses to industry from piracy are due to the illegitimate use of software by business houses.

In total,India’s piracy rate has dropped 10 percentage points since the year 2004,when it stood at 74 per cent,and thus,the drop has been continuous,but very slow.

To accelerate the rate of decline in software piracy,Mishra said there is a need to have a strong enforcement agency in the country that specialises in the subject of Intellectual Property Rights.

When asked about the approach of software companies to the existing legal machinery of India,Mishra said the courts are overburdened with cases and the timeline of getting the cases resolved can take too much time.

“Once a case is filed,you are not sure when it will it come up for hearing,” Mishra said.

However,Mishra mentioned that the government response to curbing piracy in the country has been positive.

“The government,especially the Department of Information Technology,has shown sincere effort in curbing piracy. They have hired an agency to run an awareness campaign,” Mishra said.

The study was conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in 116 geographies in 2010.

On the global level,the association found half of the 116 geographies studied had piracy rates of 62 per cent or higher and two-thirds saw at least one software programme pirated for every one that was installed legally.

During the year,the piracy rate dropped in 51 of the 116 geographies and went up in only 15. Regional average rates rose by 1 point in both the Asia-Pacific and Latin America,which are considered the economic hot beds of the developing world. PTI PRS ARV ARV 05131504 FE INFOTECH Intel Capital announces USD 18-mn new investments in India Bangalore,May 13 (PTI) Intel Capital,Intel’s global investment organisation,today announced it has made a total investment of USD 18 million in five Indian companies.

It announced investment in PolicyBazaar,a leading online insurance comparison site that assists customers in making informed decisions about their insurance purchase.

The investment funds would be used for building brand awareness and further enhancing PolicyBazaar’s technology platform and product depth,according to an Intel statement.

Intel Capital also signed an agreement to invest in Sudhir Srivastava Robotic Surgery Centre,a provider of advanced robotic surgery procedures for speciality areas such as cardiac,urology,thoracic,gynaecology,orthopaedics,head and neck and general surgery,subject to satisfaction of customary conditions.

This investment marks Intel Capital’s first investment in the healthcare sector in India.

In addition to these two new investments,it announced follow-on investments in mobile media company July Systems; online travel company Yatra.com; and open-source application development software company WSO2.

Intel Capital made a total investment of approximately USD 18 million. Details of the individual investments were not Disclosed.