Microsoft speaks on software piracy

September 2007

Microsoft on Friday said it may take decades to tackle software piracy in large emerging economies, despite some recent progress, and called on Asian governments to invest more in policing the practice. “We are realistic in recognizing that we have to work diligently over periods, that are really a decade or two, to make real progress in a number of these environments,” said Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer. He also noted that progress had been made in countries like China and Vietnam in recent years to tackle software pirates, which cost the company billions of dollars each year. However, he said more needed to be done to police the problem, especially from the side of enforcement. “Most of the Asian countries have the laws, some of the regulations – they probably need tuning up – but the biggest weakness is, very few of them have made the necessary investment on the enforcement side.” Microsoft has made progress in China, where the piracy rate has dropped to 82 percent this year from 94 percent four years ago, he said. The piracy rate is a measure of the level of pirated software in the country. China President Hu Jintao last year pledged to crack down on software piracy.