Asia's software piracy rate rose to 51 percent in 2000 from 47 percent the previous year.
Estimates indicate that one in every three business-software applications was a bogus copy.
The BSA said Asian piracy rates were rising in line with the region's information-technology development. Japan's piracy rate increased to 37 percent from 31 percent, reflecting the highest dollar losses for the Asian region. South Korea rose to 56 percent from 50 percent, China to 94 percent from 91 percent, and Vietnam topped the list at 98 percent, up from 97 percent. Hardee cited Singapore's efforts to curb retail piracy by stepping up police raids at shopping malls and having authorities send mailers to businesses encouraging them to use legal software. The city-state, in its third round of talks on a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, was recently removed from the U.S. watch list of intellectual property rights violators.