Vietnam's Software Piracy Drops 2%, Still Topping The World.
VIETNAM'S SOFTWARE PIRACY DROPS 2%, STILL TOPPING THE WORLDVNB 30 June 2006The software piracy in Vietnam and Zimbabwe dropped 2% annually from 92% in 2004 to 90% last year, but the two countries have taken the leads among the 97 software-pirated nations in the world, according to the annual report of 2006 of the Business Software Alliance released May 23. Currently, the piracy is blamed for losses of $38 million down from $41 million for the software firms in Vietnam due to its IT modest market whereas the figures are far higher in the US, China with $6.9 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively, last year, the report saidAfter Vietnam and Zimbabwe, Indonesia has taken the third position with 87% of illegally reduplication of software whereas China and Pakistan have occupied the fourth with 86%. Damages incurred by software piracy for software companies in the world rose to $34 billion from $1.8 billion in 2004. About 35% of software installed in PC in the world are now pirated, the report pointed out. The government of Vietnam has targeted to reduce the rate of software piracy from the 92% to 84% by the end of this year in a bid to give the country a facelift and higher prestige in a bid to woo the World Trade Organization. Phan An Sa, chief inspector of the Ministry of Culture and Information said that Vietnam's authorities are accelerating inspections of IT businesses, especially computer production and trading companies, and software sales shops nationwide.The Southeast Asian nation will possibly impose more severe punishments on software property rights violations. At present, violators are subject to a fine of up to VND500 million ($31,400), An said, adding if the ambitious reduction target is fully realized, the country can generate 3,000 new jobs in the IT industry and increase the revenues of the IT industry by $750 million. However, according to experts, with a lax law system, fulfilling the target is unlikely. Vietnam's IT industry has posted high growth rates in recent years.The Vietnamese IT market generated $685 million in revenues in 2004, up 33% against 2003, in which the hardware market increased 32.9% and the software and service market was widened 33.3%