Software Piracy In Our Own Backyard (NAPSA)—The words “software pirate” may conjure up images of street-side vendors hawking cheap versions of software or organized rings of professional thieves selling their stolen wares on Internet auction sites. While these offenders certainly constitute a significant percentage of software pirates, in the United States the average offender is morelikely to be a typical employee or employer of a small or medium-sized business. Manyusers are not aware that by extending software licenses purchased for a specific user to others in the company, they are in fact violating copyright law. So you might ask, “What’s the big deal? Nobody is harmed, right?” The truth is that software piracy harmsall of us. Billions of dollars are lost annually to piracy, the majority of which is attributable to “casual” perpetrators. Our economic health is undermined by the lost tax revenues, job opportunities and impedes the pace of innovation that stimulates and grows economies. Countries around the globe are grappling with the issue of software copyright protection, especially as the Internet and other technological advancements increase the ability and the temptation for people to use software they did not license. Today the global piracy rate is 40 percent, reflecting a revenueloss to U.S. business software developers of almost 11 billion according to a study by the Business Software Alliance (BSA). “It is estimated that for every one copy of Autodesk software that is purchased legally, another five copies are illegal. We believe that approximately 80 percent of our losses are attributable to corporate copying by small and medium-sized businesses,” said Sandra Boulton, director of Piracy Prevention at Autodesk, the world’s leading design software and digital content company. “This is lost revenue that could otherwise support more jobs, R&D and our network of 2,600 developers.” At a global rate of 40 percent, software piracy harmsus all. Legal Implications Users of copied or counterfeit software lose important benefits. They encounter viruses, corrupt disks or otherwise defective software that hurts their productivity. Theyalso receive little or no documentation, and are noteligible for technical product support and software upgrades available to registered users. If caught, copyright infringers also face civil and/or criminal charges. The U.S. copyright law provides for the recovery of damages for civil copyright infringement. Recovery includes payment of up to $150,000 per infringed work, destruction of illegal copies and payment of attorney fees and costs. The law also allows the government to prosecute copyright infringers and provides for criminal penalties, including fines of up to $250,000 andjail termsof up to five years. The software industry is one of the great success stories of the last century. Continued software development can bring major benefits to individuals and corporations. Those who steal from the software industry will eventually find that they have stolen from themselves as well. For more information on Autodesk’s Piracy Prevention program or to report suspected illegal use of Autodesk software, call 1-800-NO-COPIES or visit www.autodesk.com/piracy.
