Pirated software sales in Romania down in 2006

Sales of pirated software in Romania stood at 114 million U.S. dollars in 2006, accounting for 69 percent of all software sales, down three points from the year before, according to a report by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) on Wednesday.

"Improvements were reported on the Romanian market, mainly among companies and governmental institutions, who use licensed software, but losses are still high. The higher demand for computers needs a more rapid drop in the piracy rate to be reflected in a reduction of economic losses," said Magda Popescu, BSA attorney, quoted by Rompres news agency.

The authorities conducted 600 inspections last year against software piracy, compared with 350 in 2005.

Separately, the Internet Data Center said Wednesday that global pirated software sales reached 40 billion dollars in 2006, or 35 percent of total sales.

The piracy rate in Central and Eastern Europe dropped 1 percent last year to 68 percent, with sales above 4.1 billion dollars, it said.

Source: Xinhua