Software Piracy in the United States
Accoring to recent IDC study on 2008, the piracy rate in the United State remains at 20%. This means about $8,040 Million losses from software piracy. As a matter of fact, the losses by software piracy is increacing compared to the year of 2006 with $7,289M. For more detail 'Click Here'
The Penalties for Pirating Software
The copyright owner can brings a civil action against the user of piracy act, the owner may sue for monetary damages, between actual damages, which include the amount it has lost because of infringement as well as any profits attributable to the infringement, and statutory damages for each program copied.
In addition, the goverment can criminally prosecute the illegal user for copyright infringement. If convicted, those user can be fined up to $250,000, or senteced to jail for up to five years, or both.
Apart from legal consequences, using copied or counterfied software means;
- High risk to exposure to viruses, worm, ad-wares, and corrupt disks or otherwise defective software
- No warranties and No documentation
- Lack of technical support available
- Ineligibility for software upgrades offered
You can report piracy, to the toll-free BSA Anti-Pary Hotline at 1-888-NO-PIRACY. Qualifying reports may be eligible for Rewards of up to $200,000.