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SINGAPORE - Asian economies led by China can reap a financial windfall and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in a few years by cracking down on software piracy, an industry study showed Wednesday.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and research group IDC said nearly 60 percent of the software programs installed on personal computers in 2009 across the world's largest region were unlicensed.
Reducing software piracy to about 50 percent in four years would produce almost US$41 billion in economic activity, create 350,000 new jobs and generate nearly $9 billion in taxes, according to the joint study.
Achieving the same reduction in two years would boost the economic benefits for the region by another 33 percent, a press statement said.
Worldwide, a cut in piracy rates from the current 42 percent to 32 percent over four years would add $142 billion to the global economy, 500,000 new jobs and $32 billion dollars in tax revenues, the study said.
Roland Chan, BSA's senior regional director for marketing, said the Asia-Pacific region will capture "more than three fifths" of the new jobs forecast be generated globally because of the size of the market.
"Reducing software piracy is an opportunity to inject much-needed stimulus into Asia Pacific economies," he said.
"This study clearly shows that aggressively fighting software piracy today means greater economic benefits tomorrow -- for the region's economy, not just the software industry."
An earlier BSA-IDC report said 900 million software programs were installed on personal computers in the Asia-Pacific region in 2009.
Chan said he hoped the study results would help convince governments to improve their fight against piracy, which cost technology companies more than $50 billion in 2009.
"The primary message is to tell countries that if you do more in reducing your piracy rate, you're going to get more," Chan told AFP in an interview ahead of the study's launch on Wednesday.
"And if it is accelerated, the economic benefits will even be better."
According to the study, China stands to benefit the most if it further cuts down its piracy rate, which stood at 79 percent in 2009.
Of the estimated 350,000 jobs expected to be generated in the Asia-Pacific region, China will account for 250,000 due to the size of its software industry, the study showed.
India will account for nearly 60,000 jobs, followed by South Korea at over 10,000 and Japan at 9,500.
China will also benefit most in terms of revenues and taxes, the study said.
The report looked at 13 economies that make up 98 percent of the region's packaged software market -- Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Piracy rates in the 13 economies in 2009 ranged from a low of 21 percent in Japan to 86 percent in Indonesia, BSA said.
The BSA is an industry group that works for copyright protection and counts among its members some of the world's biggest technology companies as well a local software developers.
.jpg "Photo: Reuters")