Software providers benefit from anti-piracy campaign_美文

Software providers benefit from anti-piracy campaign

Yan Xiaohong, deputy head of the copyright administration, stressed that foreign and Chinese software providers are treated equally in the procurement process.

"Foreign software companies are encouraged to sell their products in China and are protected under Chinese law. We also like to see our own companies develop better quality software," Yan said.

Foreign companies welcomed the increasing use of licensed software by the government.

"We're encouraged by the increased efforts in legalization and enforcement. We see lots of opportunities for continued improvement on intellectual property rights protection in China, and we are hopeful they will lead to meaningful and lasting results," Microsoft said in a statement.

"We at Microsoft believe stronger IPR protection will give Chinese entrepreneurs greater confidence to invest in building innovative and creative businesses, and will help lay a solid foundation for China to build an innovative economy."

The gross income of China's software sector topped 1.8 trillion yuan in 2011, accounting for about 15 percent of the global market. In the second quarter of last year, China for the first time surpassed the United States as the world's biggest personal computer market.

However, in 2010, 78 percent of the PC software installed in China was pirated, compared with a worldwide rate of 42 percent, according to a report released in May 2011 by the Business Software Alliance, an industry group of software vendors, and International Data Corp, a market research company.