Know the Law

Many businesses, both large and small, face serious legal risks due to software piracy. Under the law, a company can be held liable for its employees’ actions. If an employee is installing unauthorized software copies on company computers or acquiring illegal software through the Internet, the company can be sued for copyright infringement, even if the company’s management was unaware of the employee’s actions.

Quite simply, to make or download unauthorized copies of software is to break the law, no matter how many copies are involved. Whether you are casually making a few copies for friends, loaning cd’s, distributing and/or downloading pirated software via the Internet, or buying a single software program and then installing it on multiple company computers, you are committing a copyright infringement.  If you or your company is caught copying software, you may be held liable under both civil and criminal law.

A company or an individual found using unlicensed software and violating copyright laws can pay damages of up to $150,000 for each software title copied. In addition, the government can criminally prosecute you for copyright infringement. If convicted, you can be fined up to $250,000, or sentenced to five years in jail, or both.

To learn more, download a free copy of BSA’s guide to Software Piracy and the Law.

Software Piracy Data


View the Piracy Rate by Region

A number of factors contribute to regional differences in piracy — the strength of intellectual property protection, the availability of pirated software, and cultural differences. In addition, piracy is not uniform within a country; it varies from city to city, industry to industry and demographic to demographic. While efforts to cut piracy in large businesses may be successful, piracy can increase as a result of new users from small businesses entering the market for the first time.

Find out more.