This month some 12,000 Czech firms will receive summonses regarding their suspected use of illegal software, according to the anti-piracy organization Business Software Alliance (BSA). Tips from anonymous sources are the basis of most citations, but others are based on companies that are at extreme high risk for software piracy, BSA spokesman Jan Hlavač said in a press release issued Tuesday.
“Police inspections at companies suspected of using illegal software are often made on the instigation of someone inside the company or from its surroundings, such as a disgruntled employee or a direct competitor,” Hlavač said.
Some 50 percent of complaints about pirated software use come from competitors; employees account for 40 percent and other sources the remaining 10 percent. The main reasons for complaints are revenge (71 percent) and disapproval of piracy (29 percent). ‘Police inspections at companies suspected of using illegal software are often made on the instigation of someone inside the company.’
“If you are employed in a business with fewer than 100 employees in production, services or administration, then it is possible that work is done with illegal software,” Hlavač said. Other groups with high piracy rates include architects and designers, advertising agencies and engineering firms. The BSA is encouraging companies to check the legality of the software they use.
When caught, companies pay average damages of Kč 260,000 — excluding the costs arising from court proceedings. Firms that use licensed software complain that illegal software hurts competition. Specialized professionals such as architects, designers and graphic artists can reduce the cost of doing business by up to Kč 100,000 through piracy, the BSA said.
Companies with more than 250 computers typically are better at preventing piracy and have monitoring mechanisms in place. The BSA is encouraging companies that don’t already do so to check the legality of the software they use.
The top reasons for software piracy given by businesses include someone else being responsible for installing the software, licenses being too expensive for a startup, and the firm’s intention to pay for the software later.
Last year in the Czech Republic, some 37 percent of software used in business was unlicensed, and software vendors lost annual revenue of Kč 3.6 billion, according to the BSA. In the long term, the amount of pirated software in business has been dropping; it was 38 percent in 2009 and 39 percent in 2008, according to BSA’s figures.
In the mid 1990s, illegal software use was as high as 66 percent, according the Economist Intelligence Unit. The first civil raid regarding suspicion of illegal software in the Czech Republic was in 2002.
The BSA is an international IT industry group active in 80 countries that promotes positive conditions for companies. In the Czech Republic, members include Adobe, Apple, Asseco Poland, Microsoft, Siemens and Symantec.
