Results of a study by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) signal that PC software piracy in Australia has fallen one percentage point in 2007.

The BSA represents software companies from around the globe, including Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, and IBM.

The 5th annual study found that Australian software piracy is down from 29 percent to 28 percent in the past year.

Since the first study in 2003, BSA has found that Aussie piracy has decreased overall by four percent, which it attributes to a higher level of attention being paid to the piracy problem.

“We think general awareness is increasing in Australia,” said Jeff Hardee of BSA Asia Pacific.

“That’s coupled with the fact legislation has improved and there are more resources going towards enforcement.”

“Also the Government has dedicated more resources to stopping IT violations... there have been some notorious actions taken against some notorious violators in Australia and that has generated press.”

Victoria led the States with the most piracy problems, with 50 percent of all software piracy investigations being attributed to Victorian companies.

However, in the future, BSA expects Western Australia to take the title, as WA companies are feeling the pressure of the quick expansion from the mining boom.

Globally, out of the 108 countries studied in the report, 67 countries saw a drop in software piracy, while eight saw an increase.

BSA points out that the nations with the highest rate of software piracy are very often emerging economies, where PC use is growing at a rapid rate.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region with the highest piracy rates include Bangladesh with 92 percent, Sri Lanka with 90 percent, Vietnam with 85 percent and China with 82 percent.

Though Aussie piracy ranks low on the regional list, BSA believes 28 percent is still much too high and changes could be made in education and enforcement.

“In Australia itself we’d like to see more messaging about the importance of respecting intellectual property,” Hardee said.

“At the end of the day, we’re trying to change consumers’ behaviour and to do that it will have to be through a combination of public awareness and unfortunately through enforcement.”