The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is calling on the government to increase the penalties for firms using counterfeit or unlicensed software.

More than a quarter (27 per cent) of software in the UK is illegal, according to BSA’s Global Software Piracy study released on Tuesday.

Software piracy in Europe carries much stricter legal penalties than the UK, where the offence undergoes a civil rather than criminal process, says BSA vice chairwoman Julie Strawson.

‘Piracy should be raised to criminal status because it is very difficult to justify any organisation using your product without paying for it,’ she said.

‘It is only the software industry that allows that to happen – you would not let someone drive off the forecourt with a car they did not pay for.’

Strawson also says that tax breaks for fully-compliant companies would help to ease the problem.

‘Business managers take the bottom line seriously so government reducing corporation tax for compliant companies would be an incentive,’ she said.

The ISO 19770-1 standard is the recognised international standard for auditing software, and firms should pay more attention to it, says the BSA.

‘We acknowledge that firms are not always flouting the rules knowingly which is why they should refer to standards,’ said Strawson.

‘We are calling for more government focus on this because it affects the whole UK economy and is as illegal as not paying your taxes, so every business manager needs to be aware of it.’

But the government must take care to penalise the right people, says IDC research manager Eric Dommage.

‘Users are also victims, so the fear factor from government must be used with accuracy and scrutiny,’ said Dommage.

Responsibility lies with IT resellers and ultimately with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), he says.

‘Fighting licence abuse is the task of IT resellers, not the police,’ said Dommage. ‘The DTI is a key player and is already doing a lot in this area.’