If civil actions are taken, the publisher of the software can sue for monetary damage, which is the actual cost of the pirated software plus any money the business made from the software or statutory damages that can be as much as $150,000.00 for each pirated software copy and all legal fees. They must also, delete all illegal software programs, purchase legal software and sign an agreement to obey the copyright law in the future. (Business Software Alliance) If more extreme measures are taken like criminal action, the consequences can be a fine for up to $250,000.00 and/or five years in jail. (Better Business Bureau).
In addition to the tough legal punishments, they are other disadvantages to software piracy. First of all a pirated copy of software may contain viruses that could completely destroy all your data, corrupted media or data, or entirely malfunctioning software. Also with pirated software you do not receive technical support like a register user receives and proper user manuals. The latest upgrades for the software are not available to pirated software users. The software publishers have to increase the prices of their software to make up the losses from software piracy. The money being spent on pirated software is going right to the pirator therefore the software developer does not get a cent and no money is put towards research and development of new technology and products. Because of this, many jobs are being lost and the economy suffers greatly. The Business Software Alliance, which is an organization that fights against software piracy for software developers, has found that in the year 2000 that more than $2.6 billion were lost in revenue in the U.S. from software piracy. (Business Software Alliance) They also found that in the year 1999, the U.S. lost about 107,000 jobs and lost $5.3 billion in wages from software piracy. (Business Software Alliance).
Since the legal punishments are very tough, honestly is best and numerous of other disadvantages to software piracy here is how to stay legal.