The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade, and e-commerce. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CNC Software/Mastercam, McAfee, Microsoft, Mindjet, Monotype Imaging, PTC, Siemens PLM, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, and The MathWorks.

Report Software Piracy to BSA at NoPiracy.com.

BSA is firmly committed to its anti-piracy efforts around the globe. The organization now offers rewards of up to $1,000,000 for qualifying reports received via its hotline or online reporting form. Confidential reports can be made by visiting NoPiracy.com or by calling 1-888-NO-PIRACY. Reward payments are subject to eligibility requirements, the details of which are available on the website. Software piracy is against the law and can result in damages of up to $150,000 for each software title copied and increases the risk for security and technical complications.

If your auction was removed by eBay, please read this:

We, at the Business Software Alliance, acting on behalf of our member companies, monitor eBay and ask them to remove inappropriate or unauthorized auctions selling member software products. To inquire about the reason we shut down your auction, please contact us by sending an e-mail to auction-abuse@bsa.org. Your e-mail must contain the auction listing ID# as well as your eBay seller ID.

What is Software Piracy? 

Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. This can be done by copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers. What a lot of people don't realize or don't think about is that when you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software. That license tells you how many times you can install the software, so it's important to read it. If you make more copies of the software than the license permits, you are pirating.

Simply put, making or downloading unauthorized copies of software is breaking the

law, no matter how many copies or people are involved.

Whether you are casually making a few copies for friends, loaning disks, distributing or downloading pirated software from the Internet, or buying a single software program and then installing it on multiple computers (including personal), you are committing copyright infringement—also known as software piracy.

It doesn't matter if you are doing it to make money or not—if you or your company is caught copying software, you may be held liable under both civil and criminal law. Civil penalties can be as high as $150,000 per software program infringed. In addition, introducing pirated software into your computing environment can open you up to the risk of damage to your network through defective software or malicious code.

Types of Piracy

There are five common types of software piracy. Understanding each will help users avoid problems associated with illegal software.

1. End-User Piracy

This occurs when a company employee reproduces copies of software without authorization. End-user piracy can take the following forms:

• Using one licensed copy to install a program on multiple computers;
• Copying disks for installation and distribution;
• Taking advantage of upgrade offers without having a legal copy of the version to be upgraded;
• Acquiring academic or other restricted or non-retail software without a license for commercial use; and
• Swapping disks in or outside the workplace.

2. Client-Server Overuse

This type of piracy occurs when too many employees on a network are using a central copy of a program at the same time. If you have a local-area network and install programs on the server for several people to use, you have to be sure your license entitles you to do so. If you have more users than allowed by the license, that is called “overuse.”

 

3. Internet Piracy

This occurs when software is downloaded from the Internet. The same purchasing rules should apply to online software purchases as for those bought in traditional ways. Internet piracy can take the following forms:

• Pirate websites that make software available for free download or in exchange for uploaded programs;
• Internet auction sites that offer counterfeit, out-of-channel, infringing copyright software; and
• Peer-to-peer networks that enable unauthorized transfer of copyrighted programs.

4. Hard-Disk Loading

This occurs when a business that sells new computers loads illegal copies of software onto the hard disks to make the purchase of the machines more attractive. The same concerns and issues apply to Value Added Resellers (VAR) that sell or install new software onto computers in the workplace.

 

5. Software Counterfeiting

This type of piracy is the illegal duplication and sale of copyrighted material with the intent of directly imitating the copyrighted product. In the case of packaged software, it is common to find counterfeit copies of the CDs or diskettes incorporating the software programs, as well as related packaging, manuals, license agreements, labels, registration cards, and security features.

Download BSA’s Software Management Guide, available in English and Spanish, to learn more about software piracy and how to protect yourself and your business.