The consultants, whose report was released in Sydney today, said they derived its estimates from a combination of aggregate sales data prepared by the Business Software Alliance "augmented with confidential data from BSA members on sales and sales margins for elements of their business," the BSA piracy rate from their annual global survey and an allowance for price elasticity.
They said the AU$155 million was derived from applying a conservative methodology, which accounted for weighted average loss of sales margins and the likely demand elasticities for business software. Using more traditional measures of the cost of counterfeiting, the consultants put the potential reduction in gross sales to the business software industry in 2002 at closer to AU$446 million.
Business Software Association of Australia chairman Jim Macnamara, said in a statement "Australia's software piracy rates are significantly higher than other developed markets such as the U.S., New Zealand and U.K.
"While Australia's copyright enforcement has been improved, it is still inadequate to significantly reduce the rates of software piracy and more stringent enforcement is needed to protect business and consumers".
The report said lost sales from counterfeiting of computer and video games in 2002 "cost the industry around AU$100 million in gross sales".
Software piracy hurts the industry...
Which is why the industry should move towards Open Source solutions, where this problem doesn't exist.