FAST takes software piracy fight to the North West
01 December 2010
Anti-piracy body The Federation Against
Software Theft (FAST) has teamed up with Trading Standards to educate
businesses in the North West about the dangers of using unlicensed software.
The
partnership has already resulted in the creation of an online booklet,
containing information about software misuse, compliance issues and
legislation.
FAST claims
the joint campaign, which was launched at an event in Warrington last week, is
the largest education initiative it has undertaken in the North West.
In
Britain it is estimated that approximately 27% of software in use is illegal.
Reducing software piracy could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs,
billions in information technology (IT) spending and economic growth, and new tax
revenues to support local services.* It is not just the IT industry that loses out to software thieves,
the end–user is often left in a vulnerable position with no access to technical
support, no information regarding upgrades and often incomplete or virus
contaminated products on their computers.
The
session introduced the new initiative and its resources, supported by
presentations from FAST and Certero Managing Director John Lunt. John presented
on his experience as a Rights holder and the importance of intellectual
property for his business.
John
Lunt comments ‘Software when purchased is not owned by you.
You purchase a ‘license’ given your user rights –this tells you what you can,
and more importantly cannot do. Once
you create a product such as AssetStudio™ or any other consumable such as a
film or CD then you own the rights to this.
He explains ‘Legitimate software use is a
crucial element of any business enterprise. Without governance and adherence to
the laws of IPR we would face a loss of wealth and originality. If these
organisations around the UK were using software without a license or made
unauthorised copies of license across their IT estate then this decreases the
value of the software and prevents reinvestment through growth’.
Around
the UK, trading standards departments implement a range of initiatives to
enforce copyright and trade mark law and to make consumers more aware of the
problems associated with IP theft.
Follow the link to the FAST Enforcement website to download the Guide: www.fast.org/ssllawenforcement