Simply stated, software piracy is the unauthorized use of a computer program, software product, or computer font in an infringement of a copyright. In most instances, software cannot be purchased, rather a license is granted to an individual or corporation to use the software. In other words, individuals or corporations do not own the software; they obtain the right to use the software.

Why is software piracy so prevalent? The software industry has to deal with a product that empowers every user to become a manufacturing subsidiary. Each PC user has all the equipment and technical know-how to make perfect copies of software. The software industry is completely vulnerable to theft, and this theft is difficult to control. It’s not like a clerk spotting a customer walking out of a department store with the goods under their coat. Ironically, most people don’t even think they are breaking the law when they copy software.

Each year business loses billions to software piracy. Sources reports that one out of every five personal computer programs in use is an illegal copy. Worldwide, copyright infringement claims a staggering $10 to $12 billion annually.

• Pirated software often lacks the important elements, documentation, and comes with no warranty protection or upgrade or support options


• Counterfeit disks may be infected with viruses that will damage your hard drive or cripple your network, without the benefit of technical support


• Copying or using illegally copied software at work puts the entire company at risk for copyright infringement


• Pirated software that is either dysfunctional or that contains viruses wastes company resources and drives up IT costs


• May lead to civil penalties and criminal prosecution

Software Piracy is credited with billions of dollars loss to the software industry by the Business Software Alliance, who studies software piracy extensively. By removing revenue from the developers, jobs are lost and there is less incentive to create new software.

PIRACY today has become an easy crime to commit with the universal availability of the Internet, where anyone can have access to sites from which pirated software can be downloaded not to mention the improved technology has fueled the proliferation of software piracy as well. The resulting losses to software companies are now too great to ignore. Software companies large and small suffer over $3.2 billion worth of losses yearly due to software piracy. Pirated software bring damage to everyone—from software developers to retail store owners, and ultimately to all software users. While it has produced significant impact on the world economy, costing billions of dollars a year in job losses and other drastic consequences.

Because a software pirate does not have proper permission from the software owner to take or use the software in question, piracy is the equivalent of theft and, therefore, a crime.

Anyone who possesses or uses pirated software is potentially liable for piracy. This includes not only the sophisticated commercial counterfeiter, but also an individual user of a single pirated program.

The criminal penalties range from fines to jail terms or both. Civil penalties may reach as high as $150,000 for each program copied. The government can also criminally prosecute you for copyright infringement, and if convicted, you can be fined up to $250,000, or sentenced to jail for up to five years, or both.