How significant is the danger of piracy and illegal copying of e-learning software? I had a very interesting conversation with a company based in Russia the other day that has developed protection solutions to combat this problem.

They provided me with statistics of the piracy rates in China (79%) and Russia (67%) where it appears this is a growing problem for companies and organisations that produce and publish electronic documents, e-learning software and games.  This problem impacts directly on revenue with victims facing significant losses in many cases.

In this part of the world it seems that, as the adoption of open source products and tools continues to grow, Universities and other education establishments undertaking to develop their own content, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to illegal copying.

The producers of games and e-learning are similarly vulnerable to these threats if they do not stringently protect their intellectual property.

Protection of intellectual property has always been on the agenda in the UK but are we experiencing the same high percentages of illegal copying that China and Russia are experiencing?

UK companies are increasingly seeking to trade with the developing economies of the likes of China and Russia but are they being vigilant enough to protect their IP?   Is it a bigger problem in this part of the world or is it an equally big problem everywhere else and we choose to not talk about it?