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According to Davy (2004, para.3), an organization that promotes a fair technology market, software piracy has become ¡§35 percent of business software.¡¨ This percentage of piracy, which is later discussed, is a tremendous world-wide problem (Nunes, Hsee, Weber, 2004, p1). First, what is piracy? Dictionary.com defines piracy as ¡§the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material.¡¨ Besides copyright law or patent law, piracy is considered as any use of a computer program outside its software licensing agreement (BSA, Anti-Piracy Information, 2005, Davy, 2004, para.3).
Various Forms
Now, the more relevant question is what action are considered connotes as piracy? According to the BSA (Piracy and the Law, 2005), software piracy constitutes as loaning disks, making copies for friends, loading a single copy on several machines, or distributing pirated software via the Internet.
It does not stop here; there are many other types of piracy that exist:
æ End User Piracy- is any reproduction without a company¡¦s or owner¡¦s authorization such as: installing a single copy on multiple computers, distribution of company property, acquiring upgrades on illegal …show more content…
13). Pirated software offers high financial rewards (Deka, 2005, para. 12). Some of the disadvantages of pirating software are unable to retrieve updates, technical support, discounts on newly released software, virus-free, accurate software documentation, and no manual for a reference (Cheng, Sims, Teegen, 1997, para. 22-24; Davy, 2004, para.6-7).
Motivating …show more content…
As long as many people are pirating software, a struggle will exist for many businesses to stay open (Steel, 1999, para. 6). If software publishers can not sell their products in legitimate markets, there is no incentive to continue developing programs (Businessline, 1998, para. 2). Shareholders often doubt investing in markets that are easily persuaded by illegal activity and in markets that are unable to reach their potential values.
Providing Little Rewards
Consumers who choose to pirate software often find themselves getting burned when seeking technical support or trying to upgrade (Anderson, 2000, para. 8). Over time, software piracy leads to higher prices for people who buy licensed software. Also, it delays the funding and development of high-quality products (Businessline, 1998, para. 5). Whether to pirate or not is up to the individual consumer. Nevertheless, software piracy undoubtedly hurts everyone, especially those consumers who choose to obtain their software legally.
Various Forms
Now, the more relevant question is what action are considered connotes as piracy? According to the BSA (Piracy and the Law, 2005), software piracy constitutes as loaning disks, making copies for friends, loading a single copy on several machines, or distributing pirated software via the Internet.
It does not stop here; there are many other types of piracy that exist:
æ End User Piracy- is any reproduction without a company¡¦s or owner¡¦s authorization such as: installing a single copy on multiple computers, distribution of company property, acquiring upgrades on illegal …show more content…
13). Pirated software offers high financial rewards (Deka, 2005, para. 12). Some of the disadvantages of pirating software are unable to retrieve updates, technical support, discounts on newly released software, virus-free, accurate software documentation, and no manual for a reference (Cheng, Sims, Teegen, 1997, para. 22-24; Davy, 2004, para.6-7).
Motivating …show more content…
As long as many people are pirating software, a struggle will exist for many businesses to stay open (Steel, 1999, para. 6). If software publishers can not sell their products in legitimate markets, there is no incentive to continue developing programs (Businessline, 1998, para. 2). Shareholders often doubt investing in markets that are easily persuaded by illegal activity and in markets that are unable to reach their potential values.
Providing Little Rewards
Consumers who choose to pirate software often find themselves getting burned when seeking technical support or trying to upgrade (Anderson, 2000, para. 8). Over time, software piracy leads to higher prices for people who buy licensed software. Also, it delays the funding and development of high-quality products (Businessline, 1998, para. 5). Whether to pirate or not is up to the individual consumer. Nevertheless, software piracy undoubtedly hurts everyone, especially those consumers who choose to obtain their software legally.