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JUNE 1990
COMPUTERWORLD
SOFTWARE PIRACY RAMPANT, SURVEY SHOWS
LONDON - Over $US520 million was lost in illegal software
copying in the UK last year, according to a survey on
software theft published by the Federation of Software Theft
(FAST).
The report, funded by Microsoft, Ashton-Tate, Wordperfect,
Lotus Development and Frontline, shows 55% of senior managers
using PC's at work copy software illegally. Of all senior
managers, 41% have currently broken the 1988 Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act. Almost one in three (31%) of senior
managers say their company has no control over illegal
duplication of software.
Bob Hay, chief executive of Fast, says, "When the new act
came into force in August 1989, we based our campaign around
education and awareness. Our telephones were [busy] for five
or six weeks. Mainly it was the companies that wished to
assure themselves that they were complying with the new
copyright law. The success of that campaign resulted in us
having a meeting where we said, "Where do we go from here?
We've had our worst suspicion confirmed."
The survey looked at 267 senior managers in companies with
an annual turnover of over $US90 million and separately
surveyed more than 2000 members of the public. It suggests
as many as two million people have no awareness of the
software copyright law.
Peter Bailey, managing director of Lotus, says, "We think
we're losing between $US70 million and $US78 million a year.
But I think it's a bigger problem for the smaller vendors
than for us. Copy protection was horribly inconvenient, and
we replaced it with an 'honesty screen'".
Paul Sloane, managing director of Ashton-Tate, says, "I was
shocked by the results of this poll. This explodes the myth
the UK is clean and sensible. Software piracy is the cancer
that threatens both the users and the industry. It threatens
corporations. It puts them at risk from adverse publicity,
risk of prosecution and viruses."
"Copying software is theft. No question," says UK Microsoft
managing director David Svendsen.