Source: Exame (Agência Estado), 20/02/2008

More than 60% of paulistanos buy pirated products, according to a survey carried out by the Federation of Commerce of the State of São Paulo (Fecomercio). The most traded products are game CDs, music and software, which correspond to 61,5% of purchases, followed by electronic devices (13%), sound and image devices (7,7%) and DVDs (7,1 %).

According to the survey, the main reason why people choose pirated products is the lower price, indicated by 84% of respondents; 15,3% of consumers also stated that they prefer illegal trade due to convenience, such as easy access to purchase them (60% said they buy counterfeit products in street vendors and street vendors and 40% in informal shopping malls). Average monthly spending on pirated articles varies between R $ 10 and R $ 30 for 30% of consumers, while 30% spend less than R $ 10 and 13,9% consume between R $ 30 and R $ 40.

According to Fecomercio, although the consumption of counterfeit articles is high, 28,9% of consumers are aware that piracy harms merchants, while 26,1% point to the government as the biggest loser. According to the National Council for Combating Piracy (CNPC), trade in products results in the loss of 2 million formal employees.