Chile: software piracy indicates unpaid taxes

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), in 2009 Chile lost $ 315 million for unpaid taxes due to pirated software. A spokesman from Business Software Alliance (BSA) expressed concern on this issue [I wonder if the government also is concerned, at the end, it is the one that is losing the revenue -unpaid tax, don’t you agree?].

Rodrigo Bulnes, BSA representative in Chile, said: "These losses reflect a worrying situation, it has to do with the little respect we have in Chile for the intellectual property”. He also mentioned that without prejudice to the institutional developments, like the reform of the Intellectual Property Act (see early post), piracy affects the country's image, discouraging innovation and harming the installation of foreign companies, due to the low level of protection for intellectual property rights.

Click here for an early post regarding a study on the rate of illegal software in Latin America.