Symantec discussed software piracy in the Report on the Underground Economy study, considering the phenomenon from the perspective of just the public-domain peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing protocol. The report stretches over a period of three months, from July to September, 2008.

“While analyzing data for the report, Symantec observed software piracy that represented over $83 million (USD) in retail costs. Considering that this was only a small sample of the total software piracy occurring over one protocol over a brief period of time, the value is substantial. A study conducted in 2007 estimated the annual cost of software piracy worldwide to be nearly $40 billion (USD),” revealed Symantec's Teo Adams.

Source:→ Softpedia