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Wealth of Ideas, March 2004
There is something about the nature of information
that compels ordinary, honest, law-abiding citizens
to copy magazine articles and technical journals, and
duplicate computer software without seeking permission
from their copyright holders.
If you recognize yourself in this category of office
scoundrel, avast, there are organizations searching
the seven seas for you.
Copyright infringement most commonly occurs in the
office. The piracy of business software alone costs
US companies more than $12 billion a year, according
to estimates from the Software & Information Industry
Association (SIIA), the principal trade association
for the software and digital content industry.
The Business Software Alliance, another industry organization
dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world,
reports that thirty-nine percent of the world’s
software is pirated, costing America about 118,000 jobs,
$5.7 billion in wages, and $1.5 billion in taxes annually.
Defined as the unauthorized reproduction, use and/or
distribution of software, piracy affects large companies
like Microsoft as well as small independent shareware
developers whose livelihoods are tremendously diminished
by this growing problem.
The Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. is the largest
licenser of text reproduction rights in the world, and
offers an easy way to license their clients’ work.
The company currently manages rights relating to over
1.75 million works and represents more than 9,600 publishers
and hundreds of thousands of authors and other creators,
directly or through their representatives.
The Copyright Clearance Center, SIIA and BSA will take
action against those who make unauthorized copies of
proprietary materials. And the fines are stiff. In 2003,
California firms Youbet.com and Innovative Merchant
Solutions paid $228,000 and $90,000 respectively for
the unauthorized installation of software. And if you
think there's no way they can find you, think again
-- most of the firms who do get caught are ratted out
by their own disgruntled employees or ex-employees.
So although it’s tempting to try getting away
with piracy, consider the risks involved – and
the fact that licensing revenues help authors, publishers
and software companies to continue producing those works
that we all enjoy.
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