In a move to curtail on-line software piracy, the Business
Software Alliance (BSA) yesterday announced it has filed lawsuits
in the US and the UK and brought enforcement actions in Germany,
charging dozens of individuals with selling pirated and counterfeit
software on popular auction sites, including US-based Yahoo! and
Ebay and European-based QXL and Ricardo.
BSA estimates that more than 90% of the software sold on auction
sites is pirated, contributing to the $13 billion in lost revenues
suffered by the industry annually.
BSA's actions are the result of an investigation by its Online
Investigative Unit into the marketing of pirated and counterfeit
software on internet auction sites in the Europe and the US.
Coined “Operation Bidder Beware,” the investigation tracked the
sale of pirated or counterfeit software from vendors across the US
and in the UK and Germany. Thirteen US individuals now face damages
of up to $150,000 per work infringed.
“Software piracy on auction sites and the internet as a whole is
a growing problem,” said Beth Scott, vice president of BSA Europe.
“Through `Operation Bidder Beware,' BSA is sending a strong message
to consumers worldwide that auction sites are a dangerous venue for
buying software products.”
BSA identified the vendors for its actions through the purchase of
software products advertised on auction sites, at a fraction of
their retail price. In the US, for example, BSA paid approximately
$1600 for programs that retail for more than $50,000.
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that Internet
Auction Fraud is among the top ten on-line scams.
