Computer Software Piracy and It's Impact on the International Economy

maximum of 15 years in prison. Sentencing was expected to be announced at a later date

that could lead to more than a year in prison. But states can often have differing views of what is

Imprisonment as a last resort; that is the usual punishment should be a fine or community service, since imprisonment normally has detrimental effects;

Depending on the offender’s ability to pay they may be fined to a maximum of $1000

A computer network set up around an individual person in one building. i.e. in a house or a small office

The most serious charge, a third-degree felony, carries a potential sentence of up to three years in prison.

No criminal charges can be filed. This little know statute, passed as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 reads thus:

shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 25 years, or both.

Any defendant convicted of this charge may not receive a sentence of more than five years for the first offense, and no more than 10 years for the second conviction. This, of course, is completely at the discretion of the court.

prison for up to 6 months (or up to 12 months for more than 1 crime)

For example, the Sales and Marketing Division has a desktop computer for each of the account representatives. All of these computers are connected to a small local area network (LAN) that serves only the Sales and Marketing Division. The

Computer piracy has been a discussion point for a long time, but many people view piracy differently. I decided to find out how BSA defines piracy. BSA (The Software Alliance) is the leading advocate for the global software industry. BSA defines piracy as, “unauthorized use or distribution of copyrighted software. It includes downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies of licensed software. Unlicensed software use also includes license infringement – installing a piece of software more times than the license permits – as well as sharing software license codes, uploading software codes to websites so others can download and use it, sharing software license codes or activation keys, as well as user IDs and passwords for web-based software applications.” ("Compliance & Enforcement," n.d.)

How can traditional (or old media) enterprises such as film, television and music overcome the threat of online piracy and file sharing?

On January 23, 2003, the world’s leading computer networking equipment maker Cisco Systems, headquartered in San Jose California, filed a lawsuit against China-based Huawei Technologies and its United States subsidiaries Huawei America and FutureWei Technologies. In the lawsuit, Cisco alleged that Huawei stole intellectual property by copying its Internet Operating System (IOS) software and its copyrighted user manuals. Cisco also claimed that Huawei infringed on its patents. After numerous failed attempts to resolve these complaints directly with Huawei, which included a cease and desist letter to one of Huawei’s United Kingdom distributors, Cisco decided that a lawsuit was necessary to

In 1996 worldwide illegal copying of domestic and international software cost $15.2 billion to the software industry, with a loss of $5.1 billion in the North America alone. Some sources put the total up-to-date losses, due to software crime, as high as $4.7 trillion. On the next page is a regional breakdown of software piracy losses for 1994. Estimates show that over 40 percent of North American software company revenues are generated overseas, yet nearly 85 percent of the software industry's piracy losses occurred outside of North America. The Software Publishers Association (SPA) indicated that approximately 35 percent of the business software in the North America was obtained illegally. In