Nearly half of all software in Brazil is unlicensed

The country is behind other Latin markets in terms of illegal software use but local rate is above the international average, says study.

Almost half of all software used in Brazil is unlicensed, according to a report from the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

About 46 percent of all software is running based on irregular copies in the country, says the BSA report, which is carried out every two years.

According to the report, there was a decline of one percentage point in usage of illegal software in Brazil in relation to 2016, but the current scenario is "far from ideal."

Brazil relies less on illegal software when compared to other Latin nations, says the BSA, but usage of unlicensed software in the country surpasses the international average of 37 percent.

Back in the 1980s, unauthorized copies accounted for about 90 percent of the Brazilian software market, he Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES).

By comparison, other markets such as Japan have a piracy rate of 16 percent, while the percentage in the United States is 15 percent, according to the BSA study.