Ronaldo D'Ercole *, O Globo - 19/05/2005

SAO PAULO. Brazil's losses from software piracy reached US $ 659 million in 2004, which placed the country in the 10th position in the ranking of nations that suffer most from the illegal trade in computer programs. Of every ten software programs sold in the country last year, more than six (or 64%) were illegal copies. The data are contained in the "Global Software Piracy Study 2005", released yesterday in São Paulo by the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (Abes) in conjunction with the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

? The piracy rate in Brazil has dropped in recent years, but is it still high? said BSA's legal adviser in Brazil, André de Almeida, recalling that in 1994 the participation of illegal programs was more than 77% of sales.

Almeida points out, however, that at that time the survey only considered the counterfeiting of multinationals' operating systems. Today, the study includes counterfeiting of local software and games. The study released yesterday was done by the International Data Corporation (IDC) and covers about 70 countries. According to the report, five years from now, two-thirds of the software used on computers around the world may be pirated, against one-third today, due to the expansion of the internet. In the same period, global software spending is expected to reach $ 300 billion, with the value of pirated products rising to $ 200 million.

Although the country has the second lowest rate of piracy in the area of ​​software in Latin America, behind only Colombia (with 55%), the dimensions of the Brazilian market explain such great losses of the software industry in the country.

According to the IDC, globally there was a small decrease in the piracy of computer programs in 2004, when 35% of the software installed on personal computers in the world was pirated, against 36% in the previous year. However, the losses resulting from this intellectual property violation increased from US $ 29 billion in 2003 to US $ 33 billion.

Last year, Brazil received an ultimatum from the United States, which threatened to exclude the country from the General System of Trade Preferences if it did not intensify the fight against piracy. According to the president of Abes, Jorge Sukarie, the additional incidence of tariffs would make Brazilian products exported to the American market more expensive by US $ 2,5 billion annually. The sanction was temporarily suspended after the Brazilian government, together with the companies, created the National Council to Combat Piracy.

? After the ultimatum, there have been some advances, but unfortunately the enforcement is still very precarious, the criminal legislation has to be improved and the government needs to be more engaged? charged Almeida, from BSA.
(*) With international agencies