Nearly a third of people in the UK own an e-reader, with a further 15% planning to buy one in the next six months, a survey by media law firm Wiggin has found.

The company conducted an online survey in March which found that many particupants anticipated taking up e-reading in the near future and a third of those currently reading e-books download them illegally.

A spokesperson for Wiggin said: “E-reading is one of the UK’s fastest rising leisure activities—four in ten of those surveyed (40%) currently read e-books and of these 39% plan to up their digital reading in the next 12 months.”

The survey also found 31% of people who read e-books download pirated copies. The spokesperson added: “Worryingly, 29% of existing e-book pirates intend to increase the amount of pirated e-books that they download over the next year.”

The research, taken from 2,500 consumers aged 15-64, representative of UK national demographics, was carried out for Wiggin’s 2012 Digital