One of the key reasons we hear so much about software piracy
or music piracy is that virtually any use an average person or company makes of
these copyright protected products can be easily interpreted as illegal. In
reality, the vast majority of so-called software piracy events are nothing more
than license violations. Of equal importance is that the so-called anti-piracy
industry, in reality, invests significantly more time and effort in copyright
enforcement than in violations prevention (We’ll
discuss this side of the scam in another Briefing).
Our First Bottom Line: There
is an enormous and highly lucrative global copyright enforcement industry that
feeds on consumer lethargy and it will continue to feed on our individual bottom lines until we all wake up and take
action. Read on for more...
Any discussion of anti-piracy, software piracy, or license
non compliance should begin with a decent definition of the word “piracy.” Unfortunately many of the largest players in
the software industry have managed to warp this definition so that it
conveniently blankets nearly ANY use of their products that they deem to be
outside of the license agreement. In other words: “Nearly every time you place operating systems, software, or other
copyright protected products on computers, you are most likely—in some
miniscule way—violating the license agreement.”
According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, piracy is:
“the
unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially
in infringement of a copyright”
Now, in our case, the key phrase in
this definition is: “unauthorized use.”
Basically, all of your problems with copyright protected products will find
their roots in the license agreement. When it comes to copyright, the licenses
are considered permissive documents. This means that the copyright holder
can—by law—minutely define your use of the product. If you use the product in
ANY manner not clearly defined in the license, you will be—technically—guilty
of pirating their product.
How can the copyright protected
products industry predict that you—specifically YOU—will violate your license
agreements. The answer is not only easy but nicely elegant in its vague
complexity.
“You
are inevitably pirating copyright protected products because you do not
read—nor do you closely follow—the license agreements to which you are legally
bound.”
Alan L. Plastow
Can
You Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is? Can I prove the validity of
this claim? Actually, I don’t need to. You can prove it yourself. Step out of
your office and ask the person who manages corporate software and copyright
license compliance to show you the summarized terms and conditions of every
license to which your company is bound.
Please
Accept my Apologies – In the next paragraph, I’m going to hit you rather
hard, but please set aside your delicate sensibilities for a moment. Realize
that the next bit of information reflects the genuine hard-nosed attitude of
the copyright enforcement industry auditors. If you cannot calmly and
statistically answer these questions, you are in for an enormous level of
financial loss when the compliance enforcement “anti-piracy” auditors come
calling.
In terms of your copyright compliance
assurance program, you don’t have anyone who is responsible for performing
these tasks, do you? Well, that’s okay. Just stroll over to the secure license
document storage cabinet and leaf through the documents yourself. Oh, wait… You
don’t have your licenses secured in a central location, do you? That’s okay. Just
walk around and locate the licenses and read them. You guessed it: The odds are
incredibly high that you cannot even FIND many of your license agreements. Are
you even close to being convinced that you could be found guilty of piracy? If
not, take the next step in the process: Identify—precisely—where every product
is loaded, how it is being used, and who is using it. Still can’t comply?
Convinced yet?
Now, re-read the definition we noted
earlier. Apply this question:
“If you are
not precisely following the license permissions, can you possibly be fully
compliant with that license?”
Our Second Bottom
Line: If you are not completely
aware of the wide range of details regarding copyright compliance assurance,
you can easily be legally defined as a pirate.
If you are not proactive in your compliance assurance efforts, you will
lose an astounding amount of money and a nice chunk of your reputation when the
auditors come calling.
Warning:
There is significantly more to becoming and remaining compliant with copyright
protected product licenses than we have just discussed. The average license
document is highly complex (Gee, do you
suppose that is intentional). Very frequently, you will not even receive a
copy of the license agreement (Go ahead,
just try and comply with THAT one). Even more frequently, license
agreements do not clearly define compliance, nor will they detail the audit
process.
At
the end of the day, YOU are an easy audit target. YOU can easily be
tapped as a software or copyright pirate. YOU will not fight the accusations in
court because YOU cannot afford to do so. YOU will pay whatever fine the
auditors demand and YOU will continue to pay any and all of the 26-100 auditing
enforcement groups (some of them more
than once) long into the foreseeable future—UNLESS you learn how to prevent
these losses.
The Network shows you how to establish a "wall of due diligence" between you, your company, your good reputation and the predatory practices of the software piracy enforcement industry. We put YOU in control of the compliance assurance process. YOU will control IT--IT will no longer control you. Contact The Network for the industry's ONLY vendor-neutral anti-piracy program. Or, if you're in a hurry, follow this link to the only online Proactive Software
Compliance Audit training program
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