Alexander Marlantes December 3 rd 2008
What is Piracy? Creating a copy and/or selling it. This is the act that some people refer to as "software piracy". This is copyright infringement in most countries and is unlikely to be fair use or fair dealing if the work remains commercially available. In some countries the laws may allow the selling of a version modified for use by blind people, students (for educational product) or similar. Differences in legislation may also make the copyright void in some jurisdictions, but not the others. Creating a copy and giving it to someone else. This constitutes copyright infringement in most jurisdictions. It is not infringing under specific circumstances such as fair use and fair dealing.fair usefair dealing Creating a copy to serve as a backup. This is seen as a fundamental right of the software-buyer in some countries, e.g., Germany, Spain, Brazil and Philippines. It can be infringement, depending on the laws and the case law interpretations of those laws, currently undergoing changes in many countries. In the US, legal action was taken against companies which made backup copies while repairing computers (see MAI Systems Corp. v. Peak Computer, Inc. (1993)) and as a result, US law was changed so that making temporary backup copies of software while repairing computers is not copyright infringement.backupGermanySpainBrazilPhilippinescase law MAI Systems Corp. v. Peak Computer, Inc.was changed Renting the original software. Software licenses often restrict the usual right of a purchaser of a copyrighted work to let others borrow the work. In some jurisdictions the validity of such restrictions are disputed, but some require permission from the copyright holder to allow renting the software. Buying the original software. Licenses say that the buyer does not buy the software but instead pays for the right to use the software. In the US, the first-sale doctrine, Softman v. Adobe [3] and Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc. ruled that software sales are purchases, not licenses, and resale, including unbundling, is lawful regardless of a contractual prohibition. The reasoning in Softman v. Adobe suggests that resale of student licensed versions, provided they are accurately described as such, is also not infringing.first-sale doctrineSoftman v. Adobe [3]Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc. Source:
Types of Piracy Industrial piracy: An individual or group attempts duplication and distribution on a large scale for profit. Corporate piracy: Unprotected contents are shared through networks such as peer-to-peer, LAN and Internet. Reseller piracy: Involves computer hardware companies selling machines with illegal copies of software preloaded on their hard drive. Home piracy: Ranges from trading disks with friends to running a not-for- profit bulletin board for the purpose of illegal software distribution.
The Birth of Software Piracy Commodore 64 Physical copies of floppies mailed using postal system Facilitated software transmission from the West to the East Rise of internet assisted Bulletin Board Systems Limited by data transmission speeds (<<56k) First attempt to combat software piracy in 1992 by the Software Publisher’s Association “Don’t Copy that Floppy”
Introduction of Windows 95 and the personal PC boom. Modem speeds typically between 28.8 and 33.6 kbits / second. “Warez” Possibly derived from the Middle English term “wares” First “Underground” FTP websites and BBS High virus and malware content Eventually morphed into Morpheus / Azerous / Kazaa Main software copied included pornography, video games, and expensive media software (Photoshop etc.)
As internet speeds increase… Peer to Peer networks become increasingly popular as compared to FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites due to bandwidth concerns Bittorent and Rapidshare are now the dominant memes Decentralized model helps reduce “blame” and makes it difficult for central authorities to shut down websites All files are now fair game. With a fast enough connection even the latest and greatest high definition movie can be downloaded and ready to run in less than an hour.
Software Often distributed via “cracked” packages or as CD ISO images meant to be read by virtual CD drives as opposed to pirated movies which are often large AVI or DIVX files Video Game industry has much more control on games that require online access Often times games and are software are unable to be updated via the intended means
Very difficult to control content Even fixed media: taken from: 03/07/content_ htm
Economic Impact Source: Business Software Alliance and IDC 2004, First annual BSA and IDC global software piracy study.
Piracy Rates
Thank You Questions?