Microsoft Corp’s senior vice-president for international operations Jeremy Butler has been down in Sao Paulo, Brazil chatting up the natives: he suggested that the Brazilian software market was growing at between 200% and 300% annually, against 30% to 40% for the US market before turning to the vexed subject of Brazilian import restrictions and piracy – there is a bill before the Congress in Brazilia to impose import duties of up to 200% on software, but Butler told his audience that he did not believe the bill would pass because the price hike implied would encourage copying and when people begin copying some software, they don’t just copy the imported software, they copy all software, Butler suggested, pointing out that such a law would therefore destroy the Brazilian software industry as well as hurting foreign companies.
