Software Crimes: The Ethical And Economical Downfalls

In 1996, worldwide illegal copying of domestic and international software cost $15.2 billion to the software industry, with losses of $5.1 billion in North America alone. Some sources put the total up-to-date losses due to software crime as high as $4.7 trillion. Estimates show that over forty percent of North American software company’s revenues are generated overseas, yet nearly eighty percent of the software industry's piracy losses occurred outside of North America. The Software Publishers Association (SPA) indicated that approximately thirty-five percent of the business software in North America was obtained illegally. In fact, thirty percent of the piracy occurs in corporate settings. In a corporate setting or business, every computer must have its own set of original software and the appropriate number of manuals. It is illegal for corporations or businesses to purchase a single set of original software and then load that software onto more than one computer, or lend, copy, or distribute software for any reason without the prior written consent of the software manufacturer. Many software managers are concerned with the legal compliance, along with asset man

Some topics in this essay:
French Spanish, Copyright Act, Supreme Court, North America, Association SPA, Computer Associates, Technological CONTU, Company Jaslow, Copyright Office, Development Corp, copyright protection, trade secret, software industry, computer program, computer programs, copyrighted software, software licensing, intellectual property, copyright office, copyright laws, penalties copyright infringement, set original software, criminal penalties copyright, software development firms, distributed low cost,