Businesses cough up for piracy

Johannesburg, 25 May 2009

Companies caught using illegal software paid out more than R3.4 million, following its piracy reporting campaign, says the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

According to the BSA, businesses which were reported paid out large amounts in damages and for the purchase of business-critical software.

This follows a radio and print advertising campaign offering R100 000 in reward to individuals who reported software piracy. The campaign, which first ran in October 2008, offered a reward of up to R100 000 for leads and information that resulted in a settlement related to the use of unlicensed software.

The BSA says it received more than 800 leads in January and February across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region - an 8% increase compared to the same period in 2008.

“We have seen how a reward campaign of this nature has prompted end-users and, in turn, some organisations, to rethink how they manage software. We hope in future that businesses will opt to only work with legal and licensed products,” says Alastair de Wet, chairman of the BSA SA committee.

De Wet adds that, in addition to this campaign, the BSA will run an e-mail-based initiative aimed directly at organisations and their key business, governance and IT decision-makers.

“Our goal with the e-mail campaign is to give organisations the opportunity to take control and effectively manage their software assets. We are aiming to support organisations that would like help in their licensing needs, rather than waiting for BSA's legal team to come knocking on their doors.”

The BSA previously stated business lost R3.1 billion in 2008 from software piracy - a claim which has come under fire from several commentators. Following the release of a survey by the IDC, reporting an increase in piracy rates, the BSA says its “fight against piracy is an ongoing one and [it will] continue to look for ways in which to bring down SA's piracy rate”.

The BSA encourages companies to not purchase pirated software, saying: “Fully-licensed software entitles organisations to support, services, patches and upgrades from the software provider, further protecting themselves from viruses, data loss and other operational risks.”

Publically being caught using unlicensed software can result in reputational damage for companies, potentially effecting clients and contracts, as well as risking legal action, adds the BSA.

“We are urging software users to be an active part of the fight against piracy, either by reporting companies that are using unlicensed software, or by requesting an assessment of the organisation's current licences,” concludes De Wet.