Johannesburg — AFRICA has been declared a pirate's paradise, as a massive 80% of all software used in the continent is either counterfeited or has not been legitimately licenced.

Software piracy is also on the rise in SA, where 37% of all business software is being used illegally.

That has increased from 36% last year despite national publicity campaigns and legal threats made against companies breaking the law.

Many of the programs have been bought as cheap counterfeit copies, while even those that are original have been duplicated to many users - with none of them paying the licence fees.

The findings come in a report issued yesterday by International Data Corp which paints Africa as the world's hotbed of illegal software activities.

Topping the chart is Zimbabwe, with a piracy rate of 90%.

The report covers 87 countries and shows an average rate of 35%, down 1% from last year.

The research is commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a body representing software vendors including Microsoft, Adobe and Symantec.

They claim that lost taxes and lost licence fees due to piracy costs software companies and African economies more than $1bn. That escalates to $15,5bn in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; the global figure spirals to almost $33bn.

The local figures are disappointing for the BSA, which believes that SA's established technology market and sophisticated infrastructure should lead the local technology sector to recognise the value of legitimate software.

"Piracy remains a major obstacle in realising the potential of the information economy here and abroad. It's seen as an easy way to benefit from technology without investing too much. People rarely think of the ethical or economic consequences of pirating software," said Stephan le Roux, chairman of the BSA.