BSA seized pirated software worth $2.1 m

BANGALORE: In its efforts to crackdown piracy, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) raided Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad to seize software worth around $2.1 million in 2006.

BSA and its member companies would step up its enforcement actions in the year 2007. A substantial number of raids were conducted in 2006, according to a statement released by the organization. Pirated software that were seized includes are from Adobe, Autodesk, McAfee, Microsoft and Symantec.

BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace.

"In over 200 actions that have been conducted by BSA and its member companies in 2006, we had found wide spread use and sale of pirated software across Indian cities. With the high software piracy rate in India, it is important to highlight efforts of the industry in combating piracy through enforcement," Jeffrey J Hardee, BSA vice president and regional director, Asia-Pacific.

As per the findings of the BSA-IDC study of 2005, the rate of PC software piracy in 2005 was 72%. According the statistics, the Indian Software industry posted the revenue loss of $566 Million in the year 2005.

"BSA adopts a three pronged strategy i.e. spreading the awareness on the perils of piracy, training and education of users including use of specialized tools like software asset management (SAM) and enforcement, in addressing software piracy around the globe. Whilst enforcement is a last resort, it is an important part of our approach as it serves to underline the seriousness of the matter," added Hardee.

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