Robert Holleyman of the Business Software Alliance is quoted as saying “We’re really stalled on this process.” Last week he visited the Capitol to voice the industry’s concerns.

SL.tv wonders whether  Holleyman’s criticism of China could have prompted the announcement by South Korea that they intend to reduce software piracy rates to 35% by 2012. South Korea’s illegal software usage rate currently runs at 43%.

In an announcement from Seoul on March 11th Yu In-chon, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister said: “We will lower South Korea’s illegal software usage rate to 35 percent by 2012, which is the average level held by OECD member states,”

Yu said the ministry will conduct intensive research on 2,600 public companies and 1,200 private companies to examine the country’s overall software use.

So, pretty depressing figures for anyone trying to make a living from software publication.

Maybe things are better in Europe?  Well yes, in parts.  The software piracy rate in most of Europe runs at around 25%.  With the notable exception of the South of France where EU Politics Today reports that illegal software usage rates run at nearly 50%

“The south west region of France has, far and away, the largest percentage of software piracy incidents in the EU, according to a new study.

Almost half of the software in the southwest of France is thought to be pirated. France, in general, is believed to have a 2-in-5 rate of illegal-to-legal software. In countries such as the UK and Germany, a little more than 25% of all software is pirated.

Although one could point to several reasons for the eye-opening amount of pirated software, France’s attitude toward Internet control, which has made it one of the more oppressive governments in the EU toward technology, is often cited by proud pirates as their driving force behind theft.

As CeriseClub, a French Internet company, told The Times, “The French take a sly pleasure in getting round all the systems put in place, and it’s very difficult to persuade them to do otherwise.”

Perhaps things are better in North America then? Well the picture in the USA and Canada is comparatively good actually.  According to the Business Software Alliance’s Fifth Annual Global Study the USA comes in at #107 of 108 countries surveyed with a very respectable piracy rate of 20%.  Canada is clearly keeping close tags on the pirates too, coming in at #91 with an illegal software usage rate of 33%.

Looking at the US software piracy rate of 20% SL.tv can quite understand why the BSA are unimpressed with the progress China are making.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Loses Hope in China
2. Apple App Store Has Lost $450 Million To Piracy
3. First successful criminal case to crack down on software piracy in China

The   new PC version of their best selling game Assassin’s Creed 2 was launched in the UK last week and no one seems to have a good word to say about the software licensing solution Ubisoft has implemented.

Many gamers seem downright outraged over the new system. But we wonder how much long term impact this will really have on Ubisoft?

Certainly, the introduction of the new software licensing system was less than smooth.

Ubisoft’s new DRM (digital rights management) system requires gamers to maintain an internet connection and be logged on to Ubisoft’s servers at all times whilst playing the game, even if they are playing solo.

The gaming media were outraged by what they saw as draconian anti-piracy measures, and many sources urged gamers to boycott the new release.

Shortly after release things got even worse.  Ubisoft’s servers came under attack from disgruntled gamers, leaving legitimate purchasers “locked out” and unable to use their licensed software for over six hours.  Ubisoft has admitted to at least one other attack during the following week.

“Effective copy protection measures are clearly essential if software developers are to generate sufficient revenue to go on supporting and developing their products.” said Jon Gillespie-Brown, software licensing expert and CEO of leading licensing solutions provider Nalpeiron “But a software licensing system should not impact negatively on end user experience.  Systems that require the user to remain logged in to the vendors server can be particularly problematic; having the potential to suffer from both connectivity problems on the user’s side, and server issues on the vendor’s side.”

So, at the moment there are definitely red faces at Ubisoft, and a lot of angry gamers out there.

But SL.tv wonders how much real damage has been done?

Sales don’t seem to have suffered all that much. From England, the Independent reports that despite all the noise Assassin’s Creed 2 still managed to make it to #3 in Steam Network’s chart of top selling PC download games for the first week of March.

So, we wonder: were the people who are doing all the complaining really planning to buy the game?  Or has Ubisoft’s admittedly rather clumsy new system actually done its work and thwarted a good proportion of the potential software pirates?

This is the story so far from the UK.  The game is released in the US on March 16th – so we wait to see how things will work out for Ubisoft over here.

Related posts:

1. Vendor Software Licensing Audits on the Increase.
2. Software Piracy Costs Nintendo 50% of European Sales Revenue
3. Software Piracy Rate FALLS to 80% in China?