Annual report says the use of pirated software has remained static

24 May 2006 0:00 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The British Software Alliance's annual report released yesterday proves that Microsoft's "Keep IT Real" campaign to reduce software piracy couldn't come at a better time, as the static level of piracy rates seems to show a general apathy by the public and software manufacturers toward the problem.

According to the BSA’s report, 27% of UK PC software is pirated. This is only slightly below the 33% global average. The figures for the piracy report are calculated by subtracting the amount paid for software for the year from the amount of software installed in 2005.

In February this year, Microsoft launched its "Keep IT Real" campaign aimed at reducing the rate of Windows pirating by 5% over 3 years. The company has recently prosecuted the first UK reseller as part of this campaign.

William Ling was previously convicted in 2003 for trademark offences, and fined

Full tags

Software, PC software, Software piracy, BSA