Software Users Fight Piracy
Piracy foe the Business Software Alliance announced yesterday that Russian companies paid its rights-holding members $7 million for the legalization of software, which is twice as much as in the same period of 2006. BSA members account for more than 90 percent of the operating systems sold in Russia.
According to the BSA, only 28 percent of corporate software users in Russia are sure that their software is not pirated. The organization reported yesterday that law enforcement found illegal software in 150 companies in the first quarter, either at its own initiative or at the behest of the BSA. The directors or systems administrators of eighteen corporate users were convicted of criminal charges in that period.
In Russia, the BSA represents Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Microsoft, Menotype Imaging, Tekla, Symantec and UGS. Those active on the market say that the efforts of the BSA are bringing results. Garri Kondakov of Kaspersky Lab predicted that 50 percent of small and medium-size businesses in Russia will use licensed software within five years.
The BSA stated that it expects law enforcement agencies to make 800 checks of software this years and the courts to make 60 convicts on related charges. The BSA's competitors say that the association's members are not always able to receive compensation even when they win in court. Yury Zlobin, president of the Russky Shchit (Russian Protection) association, suggested that fighting sellers of illegal software, rather than users, would be more effective.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 05, 2007
|
