Every year, Microsoft’s losses vary from USD 8 to USD 50 million due to pirated software in the Armenian market. According to the director of Microsoft office in Armenia, Grigor Barseghyan, about 30 per cent of this amount are the losses of the state and copyright owners. Last year Microsoft submitted a program to combat illegal computer programs. "The program arose a serious discussion in the Ministry of Economy, which entailed establishing of the inter-ministerial commission by the decision of the RA Prime Minister," Grigor Barseghyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

According to him, the commission will examine the problems in legislation, issues of international cooperation and protection of the rights of Armenian developers. "Hackers' attacks are often possible because of usage of unlicensed software. That is why the government should become an example of the use of licensed programs, " director of Microsoft in Armenia said. According to the data of the company, licensed software is installed on only 30 per cent of computers used in state bodies of the country.

Meanwhile, according to research by Business Software Alliance and IDC Global Software in 2009, Armenia has been named among major consumers of pirated products, along with Georgia, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.