12 May 2011
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has called on the government to review UK damages law as it revealed that £1.2bn of unlicensed software was installed in the UK in 2010.
The BSA recently conducted a study in partnership with analyst firm IDC, which found that installations of unlicensed software on computers in the UK has remained at 27 per cent for the past two years.
The organisation wants an increase to the amount of damages that can be awarded in cases of intellectual property theft.
It hopes this would provide a greater deterrent than the existing law, under which only damages equivalent to the cost of the software license are permissable.
Sarah Coombes, senior director of legal affairs at BSA EMEA, said: "The current damages law isn't tough enough to deter those businesses that still think it is acceptable to use unlicensed software. The Ministry of Justice acknowledged this in 2007, suggesting this issue would be addressed, but no progress has been made to date.
"Legislation that strengthens the availability of court-awarded damages would act as a deterrent for those that continue to use illegal software. The UK IT industry is a dynamic sector that supports almost 600,000 high-skill, high-salary jobs and contributes billions of pounds in taxes each year, and we need tougher IP laws to protect it."
It is utterly foolish to use the word theft in regard to breach of copyright. It is not theft under law, it is not morally equivalent to theft as no one is hurt, no one is deprived of something.
Few businesses knowingly run unlicensed software "because they think it is acceptable" to do so; most are not even aware they have exceeded their licence counts and of what remains many just cannot afford the exorbitant prices attached.
Posted by: Chris Puttick 12 May 2011
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