No excuse to pirate software
Although South Africa has the lowest software piracy rate on the African continent (weighing in at just 35%), software piracy continues to cost the South African economy R1,9-billion. This represents a significant loss to the economy, not only in terms of lost taxes but also job creation.
Research by the IDC has previously indicated that reducing PC software piracy by just ten percentage points over the next four years could create an additional 1200 jobs, R6-billion in economic growth and R480-million in additional tax revenues in South Africa for national, regional and local governments.
Given the possible economic benefits of using legal software, it remains a wonder that software piracy remains such a problem in South Africa. The problem has two sources: (i) unscrupulous resellers who take advantage of consumers’ ignorance to sell them pirated software and (ii) companies that knowingly pirate software.
In the case of software resellers, the major software vendors (Adobe, Symantec and Microsoft, for example) are continuing to monitor their channels for such activities. The immediate problem is that companies knowingly making use of pirated software. Given the current economic climate, the effect of companies making use of pirated software or not could make the difference between a company staying in business or going bust.
To illustrate this point, Company A is a good corporate citizen, makes use of licensed software and pays its software licence fees on time. Company B is not a good corporate citizen and makes use of pirated software and does not pay any licence fees at all.
Logic says that in these tough economic times Company A’s solvency is perhaps most at threat given the fact that it has made the commitment to use licensed software regardless of the cost. Assuming that Company A goes bankrupt, despite the fact that they sought to be a good corporate citizen, Company B will continue to operate, its bottom line unaffected by a need to pay software licence fees. This is clearly unfair.
To try and combat the scourge of software piracy the BSA has recently launched a new anti-piracy campaign whereby informers can earn up to R100 000 for information which results in a company making use of pirated software either legalising their software or being successfully prosecuted in the South African courts. So that’s the reward for informers. What are the penalties for software pirates?
Its important to remember that companies can face both civil and criminal penalties for software piracy. If a company is found to be using pirated software in the civil courts the penalties are damages or a reasonable royalty. In the case of computer software these damages and reasonable royalty are usually calculated as being the retail value of the software. The nett result is that a company found to be using pirated software can pay up to twice the value of the software in damages or a reasonable royalty.
The criminal penalties in the case of software piracy are R5000 per illegal copy and/or imprisonment for a maximum three years for the first conviction. If a company is convicted in the criminal courts a second time for software piracy, the penalty is R10 000 per illegal copy and/or imprisonment for a maximum five years.
What steps can companies take to ensure that they are using legal software?
There are a number of steps that a company can follow. Perhaps the fundamental first step is to conduct a computer software audit. This entails establishing what computer software is running on your systems, and then establish how many licences you have. If you establish that you have a licensing shortfall (i.e. you do not have sufficient licences), you may need to contact a computer software vendor or distributor to establish how you can go about purchasing the additional licences at the most cost-effective rate.
It is also important to record the serial numbers of the computer software that is running on each machine and keep records of this information. It is advisable to conduct a computer software audit on at least an annual basis. A further step to ensure that you remain compliant is to ensure that your acceptable computer usage policies regulate the ability to load computer software onto your machines. We have encountered a number of instances where employees have loaded Microsoft Golf and Microsoft Age of Empires on their machines!
It is then clear – at the end of the day software piracy can have serious consequences for a company and possible financial benefits for employees reporting their employers for software piracy. More importantly, the current economic climate is not an excuse to pirate software.
Software piracy in SA – comments and views
EngineerIT
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