A study from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) shows that the software piracy rate in Ireland dropped to the EU average of 36% last year.
It says losses to industry from illegal software installed on personal computers dropped by $1 billion. The BSA says that, despite this drop, losses in the EU remain high at $11 billion and losses in Ireland are at $92m.
The findings are contained in the fourth annual Global Software Piracy Study conducted independently IT research group IDC.
The piracy rate within the EU has dropped from 37% in 2003, despite the market expansion to 25 countries in 2004, helped by harmonised European legislation.
In Ireland the rate has consistently shown small decreases since the introduction of the Copyright and Related Rights Act bill 2000, with the rate decreasing from 56% in 1999 gradually each year to the current rate of 36% for 2006.
Kathryn Raleigh, director of ICT Ireland said, said the software sector employed 80,000 people in Ireland, so it was vital that the country reduced its piracy rate to attract foreign direct investment.
