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700 software piracy probes being persued by BSA

24 September 2004 0:08 by James "Dela" Delahunty

The Business Software Alliance has over 700 active investigations into software piracy in the United States, according to Robert M. Kruger, chief enforcement officer for the Washington, D.C. based nonprofit organization. He said that the BSA rarely raids enterprise customers with federal marshals and court orders but said that BSA piracy cops aren't easing up on their investigations. The incidence of software piracy worldwide has actually dropped in recent years, being about 33% of software now compared to 50% just ten years ago.

According to Kruger, pirated software by corporate and government employees accounts for the most of the massive $29 billion that the software industry is losing to piracy each year. Software piracy is continuing to be a significant problem in the United States and Kruger estimates that about 95% of all spam emails that offer free software are coming from a location in Russia. Also the amount of pirated software on auction websites and P2P networks boosts the problem dramatically. "People go to a cuddly Web site like BearShare [which features an image of an animated bear], and they figure, 'I must not be doing anything wrong if I'm downloading a $695 photo-copying program for free.'" he said.

Most BSA investigations are triggered by reports to the organizations anti-piracy hotline (888/NO-PIRACY), reports sent to the organizations website and referrals from BSA member companies. Penalties for individuals or organizations found guilty of illegally copying or using software can include the copyright holder suing for damages, including actual damages and any profits obtained by the infringing organization using the pirated software. The copyright holder can also sue for statutory damages up to $150,000 for each pirated good.

Source:
PC World

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