Seemingly every story on piracy or counterfeiting throws out figures of how such practices cost businesses XXX amount of dollars per year. For those who may have questioned the legitimacy of such figures, the results of a new government report validate taking such a “Doubting Thomas” approach.

The [URL=http://www.gao.gov]United States Government Accountability Office (GAO)[/URL] has issued a report entitled Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods ([URL=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10423.pdf]PDF[/URL]). GAO issued its findings as a directive emanating from 2008’s Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (Pro-IP Act), in which the organization was asked to provide information on, and quantify, the impact of counterfeit and pirated goods.
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