A Warning To Company Directors and Senior Management For Using Pirated Software : Your Employees May Be Watching At You
According to the May 2007 Global Piracy Study conducted by Business Software Alliance (BSA) and International Data Corporation (IDC), software piracy in Malaysia is responsible for over USD$ 289 million of the estimated USD$ 40 billion losses to the software industry worldwide. Compare with last year, the losses in revenue have increased USD$ 140 million although the piracy rate remains 60%. In view of the seriousness of software piracy, the Malaysian Government has shown serious commitment to combat software piracy. The enforcement division of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, as well as the Police, is empowered to raid the premises of an infringer and seize the infringing articles.
BSA is an organization that represents the world’s commercial software industry. BSA works with the Malaysian Government in bringing legal action against companies that use illegal software. As part of their initiative to eradicate software piracy, BSA offers monetary reward of RM 20,000 to informant who reports software piracy which lead to a successfully raid. This offer is open to anyone, includes ex-employee of a company and since the informant can file a report anonymously and all reports will be treated in the strictest confidentiality to protect the identity of the informant, there is even an incentive for informant to report.
In May and July 2007, two informants were given the RM 20,000 reward for reporting software piracy in their company. One of the informant said, “ I had no option but to protect myself as I did not want to be incriminated against should the company be raided for its unethical practice of using pirated software. There is no way I am going to jail for something that I had no part in.” Another informant said, “We kept losing all our work when the computers kept crashing. When that happens, everyone had to start redoing everything from scratch. It was very frustrating when we constantly lost our work although it was no fault of ours. The morale in the company was very low.” Hence, this serves as a warning to company directors that your employees may be watching at you.
According to the May 2007 Global Piracy Study conducted by Business Software Alliance (BSA) and International Data Corporation (IDC), software piracy in Malaysia is responsible for over USD$ 289 million of the estimated USD$ 40 billion losses to the software industry worldwide. Compare with last year, the losses in revenue have increased USD$ 140 million although the piracy rate remains 60%. In view of the seriousness of software piracy, the Malaysian Government has shown serious commitment to combat software piracy. The enforcement division of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, as well as the Police, is empowered to raid the premises of an infringer and seize the infringing articles.
BSA is an organization that represents the world’s commercial software industry. BSA works with the Malaysian Government in bringing legal action against companies that use illegal software. As part of their initiative to eradicate software piracy, BSA offers monetary reward of RM 20,000 to informant who reports software piracy which lead to a successfully raid. This offer is open to anyone, includes ex-employee of a company and since the informant can file a report anonymously and all reports will be treated in the strictest confidentiality to protect the identity of the informant, there is even an incentive for informant to report.
In May and July 2007, two informants were given the RM 20,000 reward for reporting software piracy in their company. One of the informant said, “ I had no option but to protect myself as I did not want to be incriminated against should the company be raided for its unethical practice of using pirated software. There is no way I am going to jail for something that I had no part in.” Another informant said, “We kept losing all our work when the computers kept crashing. When that happens, everyone had to start redoing everything from scratch. It was very frustrating when we constantly lost our work although it was no fault of ours. The morale in the company was very low.” Hence, this serves as a warning to company directors that your employees may be watching at you.
Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. It can be committed by various means such as copying, downloading, sharing, selling or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers. Under the Malaysian Copyright Act 1987, use of software without proper licences in the course of conducting business is illegal. If found guilty in a court of law, the business and/or its directors or senior management not only face a criminal record, but also liable to a fine of between RM2,000 and RM20,000 for each infringing copy of software charged, and/or up to five years jail. The offenders may also face possible civil suits by copyright owners, claiming damages, an injunction, an account of profits and other remedies.
Many people do not realize that when you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software. In that license, it tells you how many times you can install the software. You commit a piracy offence if you make more copies of the software than the license allows. Hence, as a software user, you should only purchase original software for use and it must be used according to the license agreement. It should be noted that each and every copy used in every computer is authorized by the copyright owner. You are not allowed to purchase a single set of original software to load onto more than one computer.
Software piracy is not only a crime, but it can destroy computers and data. Illegal software lacks the quality controls built into original software. As such, using illegal software will put the computer prone to computer viruses, corrupted disks etc. You may lose your data resources due to illegal software. This will in turn lead to loss of time, money, business and credibility. Ethical companies that value integrity should only use original software to run their daily businesses.
According to the study, for every two dollars of software purchased legally, one dollar was obtained illegally. Software piracy not only affects the software industry, but it also deters the software development as there would be no financial incentive for future innovation and the development of new technologies.
Although the global losses in revenues increased by more than USD$ 5 billion, of the 102 countries covered in this year’s study, the piracy rates dropped moderately in 62 countries while increasing in 13. Overall, the steady decline in term of piracy rates is a good progress. In reducing the software piracy, the Malaysian Government has shown serious commitment. The government works with the IT industry, strengthening IP policies, educating consumers and businesses on the benefits of using legal software, introducing companies way to manage their software assets. In respect of enforcement, the government keeps launching raids on premises that use pirated software. The government also employs 2 professionally-trained tracking dogs, “Lucky” and “Flo” which has since helped to bust several optical discs syndicates worth RM 15 million. Last month, the Malaysian Government set up its very first Intellectual Property Court to deal with IP infringement cases. This will help the enforcement actions to be done more efficiently. With all these enforcements and the fact that employees are encouraged to be watchdog i.e. to report software piracy, company directors should not attempt to flout the law and put themselves at risk.
© 2008 Edwin Lee
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