Hong Kong's much-vaunted campaign to curb the theft of intellectual property has so far failed to significantly lower the rate of computer software piracy, according to a report to be released later this month. Sources familiar with the 2001 Business Software Alliance (BSA) study, to be issued on June 11, said that even after high-profile raids, tough new laws and an HK$8 million public education campaign, every second piece of software used in the SAR was an illegal copy. When the BSA report for 2000 was issued last year, the piracy rate - the ratio of installed software that is not licensed - in Hong Kong was 57 per cent, up from 56 per cent in 1999. Sources say the rate fell somewhat for last year, but is still higher than 50 per cent. The global average in 2000 was 37 per cent. Ringo Wong Chee-kao, chairman of the BSA in Hong Kong, refused to comment on what the report before the official launch. BSA president Robert Holleyman is expected to be on hand to release the study. If significant progress is not made against software piracy it will be a blow to the Government, which at one point claimed 90 per cent of shops selling illegally copied applications had been forced to close. It would reinforce the belief that as long as Hong Kong residents have a voracious appetite for cheap, knock-off products, laws that protect intellectual property will have limited impact, no matter how tough they are. Robert Kruger, a former United States federal prosecutor and now BSA vice-president responsible for enforcement, recently said Hong Kong had the best anti-piracy laws and enforcement programme in the Asia-Pacific region. The Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, which came into effect on April 1 last year, criminalised the use of unlicensed software by a business. But pirated software is still openly sold in computer malls and education campaigns appear not to be taking hold. A BSA survey conducted during March found that two-thirds of businesses polled did not even know about the new law, and only one in four had done an audit to see if they were using illegal software. Stephen Selby, director of the Intellectual Property Department, said he would like to have seen the piracy rate fall more dramatically, but the economic downturn was hampering progress. 'It is a difficult economic time for Hong Kong right now. That's not an excuse, but some people may use it as a justification. The same people are not stealing food from supermarkets, though, so they shouldn't think it is okay to steal software,' he said. Mr Selby said it would take several years of enforcement and education to effectively deal with the problem. The Government spends about HK$8 million annually on anti-piracy education and advertising. One bright point, Mr Selby said, was that almost all the high-volume manufacturing lines had been eliminated, as the equipment was too expensive to risk being seized. Customs investigators say most of the pirated software available is being made in small orders using consumer personal computers. 'I'm not going to claim that the stuff is not out there, but the process to obtain it has become more illicit,' Mr Selby said. BSA member companies have vocally supported Hong Kong's efforts, but there have been signs that they are becoming impatient with the lack of progress in the SAR and elsewhere in China. Adobe president Bruce Chizen earlier this year threatened to stop including Chinese-language support for his company's products if the rate of piracy in the region was not lowered. The BSA claims piracy in Hong Kong during 2000 cost software companies more than US$86 million in lost revenue.
