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software theft
(foldoc) | software theft
Unauthorised duplication and/or use of computer
software. This usually means unauthorised copying, either
by individuals for use by themselves or their friends or by
companies who then sell the illegal copies to users. Many
kinds of software protection have been invented to try to
reduce software theft but, with sufficient effort, it is
always possible to bypass or "crack" the protection, and
software protection is often annoying for legitimate users.
Software theft in 1994 was estimated to have cost $15 billion
in worldwide lost revenues to software publishers. It is an
offence in the UK under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, which states that "The owner of the copyright has the
exclusive right to copy the work."
It is estimated that European software houses alone lose $6
billion per year through the unlawful copying and distribution
of software, with much of this loss being through business
users rather than "basement hackers". One Italian pirating
operation employed over 100 staff and had a turnover of $10M.
It is illegal to: 1. Copy or distribute software or its
documentation without the permission or licence of the
copyright owner. 2. Run purchased software on two or more
computers simultaneously unless the licence specifically
allows it. 3. Knowingly or unknowingly allow, encourage or
pressure employees to make or use illegal copies sources
within the organisation. 4. Infringe laws against
unauthorised software copying because someone compels or
requests it. 5. Loan software in order that a copy be made of
it.
When software is upgraded it is generally the case that the
licence accompanying the new version revokes the old version.
This means that it is illegal to run both the old and new
versions as only the new version is licensed.
Both individuals and companies may be convicted of piracy
offences. Officers of a company are also liable to conviction
if the offences were carried out by the company with their
consent. On conviction, the guilty party can face
imprisonment for up to two years (five in USA), an unlimited
fine or both as well as being sued for copyright infringement
(with no limit) by the copyright owner.
Because copying software is easy, some think that it is less
wrong than, say, stealing it from a shop. In fact, both
deprive software producers of income.
Software theft should be reported to the {Federation Against
Software Theft} (FAST).
See also Business Software Alliance, software audit,
software law.
(2003-06-17)
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federation against software theft limited
(foldoc) | Federation Against Software Theft Limited
(FAST) A non-profitmaking organisation, formed
in 1984 by the software industry with the aim of eradicating
software theft in the UK. FAST was the world's first
anti-piracy organisation to work to protect the intellectual
property rights of software publishers. Initially
concentrating on lobbying parliament to revise Copyright law,
FAST also prosecutes organisations and individuals for
software theft on behalf of its members and publicises the
legal penalties and security risks.
FAST Corporate Services Limited runs the FAST Standard for
Software Compliance (FSSC-1:2004). This was developed in
collaboration with the British Standards Institution as an
independent standard of excellence in software compliance.
In 1995 FAST proposed to merge with the {Business Software
Alliance} created by Microsoft and which has a world-wide
influence. However, the talks fell through and in 1996,
Novell and Adobe Systems, Inc. defected to BSA.
FAST Home (http://fast.org.uk/).
E-mail: .
Address: York House, 18 York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6
1SF.
Telephone: +44 (1628) 622 121
(2005-12-27)
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