Businesses 'spending more than ever' on piracy

Piracy, which affects the IT software market and many big hitters such as Microsoft and Adobe, is being fought more than ever in the current climate, it has been said.

Head of communications at the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) Eddy Leviten said that many things were preventing a strong fight against theft of software through piracy, including the non-participation of internet service providers to help track down the perpetrators.

This is because most of the copyright-infringing industry is based around downloading software online, with the sale of this data being only a fraction of the problem.

He said that Britons were spending more than ever to combat the problem, which showed that "we are treating it seriously in the UK".

Mr Leviten added: "As an industry, we can only do so much. We need the help of law enforcement and also the government."

According to the BPI, 16.5 million album sales are lost annually to piracy.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).