China Claims Decrease in Software Counterfeiting
China Daily reports that China has released a report claiming that the value of pirated software sold on the Chinese market was 24 percent of the total value of the Chinese software industry in 2006, two percentage points lower than in 2005. The report was based on studies conducted by a Chinese internet research institute, Chinalabs, which was asked to measure the extent of software piracy by the State Intellectual Property Office. China has attributed the decline to the increased availability of free software, the government's anti-piracy campaign, and the development of competitive domestic IT companies that produce affordable software products.