Copyright : Summary

1. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 governs the illegal duplication of computer software.
 
2. Copying computer software without the permission of the author is illegal. A person who does this is commiting piracy and is known as a pirate.
 
3. In some European countries it is estimated that each legally sold software package is copied illegally an average of seven times.
 
4. Computer software companies rely on the income from the sale of software packages. Illegal copying of software reduces this income and may result in fewer new packages being developed.
 
5. There are three different offences created by the act :
 
 
Offence Penalty
Unauthorised copying of software. Large fine and a prison sentence of up to two years.
The sale of software that is known to be copied. Large fine and a prison sentence of up to two years.
Provision of software or hardware designed to copy a particular package. Fine of up to £2000 and a prison sentence of up to six months.
 
6. Despite the fact that copying software is illegal many people choose to break the law. Therefore software houses use other methods as well to try and prevent piracy :
  1. Copy Protection methods such as entering a unique code to use a software package and dongles make it harder to copy software.

  2. Licence Agreements restrict the use that a person may make of a software package. A licence agreement is a legal contract between the person who buys a software package and the company that developed and sells it. It states what the person who has purchased the software may do with it. A network or multi-user licence agreement grants permission for one copy of a software package to be installed on many computers.

(C) P Meakin 2004