Piracy takes its toll on Big Apple

In its bid to fight against software piracy, the Andhra Pradesh police has taken action against two persons and the court has
sentenced them to six months of rigorous imprisonment for violating copyright of Microsoft. The
judgement was passed by V Niranjan Rao, XXI Metropolitan Magistrate. Additionally, the accused have also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 50,000

each. 

According to the prosecution, Prabhu Dayal and Shambunath Jha of Secunderabad-based Big Apple Computers, violated the
copyright of Microsoft by making pirated CDs of different software. The police arrested the two men
and seized pirated CDs from their possession at the premises of Big Apple. 

However, when contacted Prabhu Dayal told CNS that Big Apple would be moving court against this decision. "All we want
to say is that we are going to move court and it is not yet over for us," he added.
Microsoft is engaged in a worldwide campaign against software piracy and recently the company has stepped up its campaign in the Hyderabad market.
"Software piracy is not new to us and it is only now that police has taken a strong position against it. I think this is a good move by Microsoft. 

Software piracy should not be allowed as it will lead to loss for everybody and we are happy that they are up against it in a big
way," said a Hyderabad-based distributor. The reality is that current laws are vague and content companies are pushing
for strict control over consumer copying behavior. To cut down on the total cost of systems a lot of companies - like the newly launched BPL systems,
have now started bundling Linux- the free software with their systems.

Interestingly for Linux this would mean more penetration into the market and Microsoft will surely end up loosing its market
share because of its highly priced licensing model. Lack of information coupled with vague laws could be largely responsible for
the high global piracy rate. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has found that software piracy has risen from 37 percent in 2000 to 40 percent
worldwide in 2001.

Lost revenue due to piracy amounted to a total of $10.97 billion worldwide in 2001, although that figure represents a decrease
of more than three-quarters of a billion dollars from 2000. The BSA attributes the
decline to the effects of a worldwide economic slowdown. 

The areas that were most negatively affected by software piracy were the Asian/Pacific region, which experienced an increase
from $4.1 billion in 2000 to more than $4.7 billion in 2001 and accounted for almost half of the
revenue losses worldwide.

ZIA ASKARI

HYDERABAD