BSA Releases Study on Software Piracy

Arkansas recently made the Business Software Alliance’s list of the Top 10 States with the most improved software piracy rates. According to a 2000 study done by the International Planning & Research Group, software piracy contributed to 188,000 lost jobs, the associated lost wages and taxes and about $2.6 billion in retail sales of business software.

Gov. Mike Huckabee’s signing of an executive order in October 2000, which mandated the use of legal and licensed software in Arkansas, was viewed by the BSA as the biggest factor contributing to the Natural State’s improvement. The BSA, which represents companies such as Apple, Adobe and Microsoft, said the average rate of pirated business software in the U.S. is 24 percent.

Arkansas, No. 9 on the most improved list, had a piracy rate of 27.4 percent in 1999 but cut that figure to 23.1 percent in 2000.

The best improvement was made by Connecticut, which cut its rate by 8.1 percent, from 22.1 percent in 1999 to 14 percent in 2000.

In a release from the BSA, Huckabee called the software industry critical to the state of Arkansas. Major software firms in the northwest corridor include Mercari Technologies Inc. in Fayetteville and Bentonville’s Strategic Concepts Inc. and Canadian-traded Delta Systems Inc.