Unlicensed

Oct 24, 2007 (LBO) РThe United States has said it is concerned over the widespread piracy of software in Sri Lanka, which recent surveys show is as high as 90 percent. "We share the industry's concern regarding extensive software piracy in Sri Lanka," said James R. Moore, Charg̩ d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, at a recent business conference where the results of a software piracy survey were revealed.

The software piracy rate in Sri Lanka was a "staggering 90 percent" according to a independent research done in 2006 and released at the conference organised by the Business Software Alliance, the National Intellectual Property Office, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, and the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.

According to the IDC, an IT, telecom and consumer technology research firm which conducted the research, nine out of ten software programs installed on new personal computers in Sri Lanka were unlicensed or obtained illegally through software theft.

"This is significantly higher than the 53 percent piracy rate for the remainder of the Asia-Pacific region," a US embassy statement on the conference said.

It places Sri Lanka in