Software companies lost 1.49 billion pounds (US$2.27 billion) to piracy in the United Kingdom last year--and that's before the impact of the economic downturn.
More than a quarter of the desktop software installed in the United Kingdom last year--27 percent---was pirated according to the sixth annual global IDC software piracy study, sponsored by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which represents the interests of software makers including Apple, IBM and Microsoft.
BSA UK committee member, Julie Strawson, said that most of this unlicensed software was business-orientated and called for executives to stamp out the widespread belief this was acceptable practice.
"I contact customers on licensing and go away with the message 'Why should we bother, there is nothing out there stopping us doing this, unless you sue me and take me to court'. That is what we are up against," she said.
"What is missing at board level is a feeling that software should be managed as rigorously as human resources or any other part of the business."
The BSA said it has stepped up efforts to fight unlicensed software, with the value of legal settlements achieved by the BSA on the behalf of its members in 2009 up 25 times on the same period last year.
Globally the rate of piracy also increased from 38 to 41 percent, with losses at US$53 billion, largely because of the fast-growing software markets in countries with high rates of piracy such as China and Brazil.
In Egypt authorities have taken drastic measures to stamp out piracy, legalizing all pirated software held by universities and government departments in exchange for a payout and an assurance that licences will be purchased in future.
The United Kingdom is relatively low down the international piracy rankings, with the 13th lowest piracy rate in the world.
The United States has both the lowest amount of piracy, 20 percent of all software installed last year, and the highest rates of losses, US$9 billion, because of the large size of the software market in the United States.
Marcel Warmerdam, of the IDC, said piracy rate in the United Kingdom had hovered around 27 percent for years, adding that, so far, the global downturn has had little Impact--but he expects it to drive up piracy this year.
Nick Heath of Silicon.com reported from London.
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