The country has a rate of 72% of installed pirated software, higher than the world average of 62%, creating losses of $68 million.
With a rate of 72% in 2010, the Eighth Annual Global Piracy Study of Personal Computer Software located Panama in the top ten countries in the continent in which the rate of installation of pirated software exceeds the world average of 62%.
Experts from the World Customs Organization (WCO) will gather today, December 9, in Panama to discuss counterfeiting and piracy.
In the meeting, in which twelve countries of the region are participating, new routes identified for the transit of counterfeit goods and new methods used to counterfeit products will be publicised.
An expert from the WCO, Christophe Zimmermann, said, "This initiative will demonstrate the effectiveness of risk analysis of information provided by Customs to prevent the crime of piracy.
Illegal copies of software abound; they allegedly represent 80% of all the computer programs used in the country.
Robert Ivanschitz, Microsoft’s legal director, told newspaper La Prensa Gráfica that “the state wins when legal software is used, as it collects taxes”.
He remarked that the country’s legal framework in this matter is not up to date, and that the government faces the challenge of maintaining it in line with the current reality.
Eighty of every 100 programs installed in Guatemalan computers are pirate editions, according to the Business Software Alliance.
In its fifth world study of software piracy, prepared in conjunction with the IDC consultancy, the alliance says Guatemala is one of the 20 countries with most piracy software.
The piracy is costing Guatemala US$ 41 million a year, the alliance says.
O4Bi is a system that allows to control and manage what a company needs: the complete process of development of works, accounts receivable, treasury, banks, sales and accounting.
O4Bi is a very robust system that allows to control and...
español
5245
