SPA Targets Internet, International Piracy 01/11/95

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1995 JAN 11 (NB) -- Software Publishers
Association (SPA) says corporate software piracy in the US was down
23 percent in 1994, but other forms of piracy became more secretive
and harder to locate. The antipiracy trade organization said it will
focus on international piracy and, specifically, piracy on the Internet 
during 1995.

SPA sources said antipiracy hot-line calls came in last year at a
rate of nearly 30 per day. These tips led to the SPA taking various
types of action against 447 organizations and led to 197 audits and
lawsuits. These resulting in the payment of $2.7 million in
penalties during 1994, SPA sources said. The organization said
cumulative receipts from its continuing antipiracy campaign 
came to $14 million so far at the end of last year.

SPA said that, of all cases brought against suspected offenders, 95
percent were corporate cases. Five of these led to settlements
greater than $100,000, the organization said. Money from such
settlements goes to fund education programs and future legal
actions, the SPA said, but declined to name any of the companies
involved.

The SPA officially estimates losses to software companies at $1.6
billion annually in the US, and $7.5 billion internationally. It
bases its estimates on the number of computers sold in an area, the
number of software packages reported sold legitimately in the same
area, and statistical reports on the number of key applications run
on an average desktop machine. 

David Trendlay, the SPA's director of research, told Newsbytes the 
underlying assumptions were reasonable and the resulting estimates 
should be considered good.

Sally Lawrence, the SPA's director of communications, told Newsbytes
that piracy law violators have become more active on the Internet,
where they are harder to track down.

"We have stepped up our monitoring on the Internet dramatically, and
are working in cooperation with major American universities where
some of this activity is taking place," she said during an
interview. "They've come across a number of pirate sites hidden away
in unsuspecting host servers. Right now they're monitoring those
activities with the intention of prosecuting to the full extent of
the law."

Lawrence declined to release any further details, other than to
confirm that the organization's attentions to the Internet were not
confined to activities in the "found" specific sites.

Internationally, the SPA has been active in France, Great Britain,
Singapore, Ease Asia, South America, and Canada. It has recently
developed a Certified Software Manager course that offers
certificates upon completion of a test on copyright law, licensing
issues, and autoing and software management policies.

(Craig Menefee/19950111/Press Contact: Sandra Sellers, director of
litigation, ext. 311, or Sally Lawrence, director of communications,
ext. 320, both of the Software Publishers Association, 202-452-1600;
Reader Contact: Piracy Hotline: 800-388-7478; SPA fax-back service,
800-637-6823)