What Is Software Piracy?

The unauthorized duplication, distribution, exchanging, or selling of software is known as software piracy. For the most part, software purchased today comes with a single-user license, which restricts its use to a single person or group of people. So, it’s against the terms and conditions of the license if you make a copy of it and distribute it to friends or anybody else.

Software piracy has been a problem for many organizations for decades. Internationally, the information technology industry has seen fast expansion and significant accomplishments during the last few years. Because of this, there has been tremendous growth and development in the software industry. As a result, fraudulent practices like software piracy are on the rise.

Advances in technology have made it simpler to manufacture and distribute copies of original software in other locations. According to a report in 2010, IT companies suffered losses of almost $50 billion due to software piracy, with Asia responsible for the majority of these costs.

Different Forms Of Software Piracy

1. Internet Piracy

Internet piracy is one of the quickest and easiest ways to obtain pirated software in today’s technologically advanced society. There are numerous ways to download free software from various websites. In addition to the convenience of not having to go to a store, customers enjoy the fact that downloading pirated software is generally free.

2. Hard-disk Loading

Among the many examples of software piracy, hard disc loading is one of the most common. As the name suggests, this is one of the ways software piracy takes place when a vendor installs unlicensed copies into its customers’ computers’ hard drives.

3. Softlifting

“Soft-lifting” refers to the practice of unlawfully copying and distributing copyrighted software in violation of the software’s license agreement’s terms and conditions. The problem is that most users and even corporations do it consciously or unintentionally, and no one bothers about it at all. Millions are lost each year in the software sector due to illegal activities.

This negatively undermines the revenue of software developers. It is also known as End-User Piracy since the software copy is frequently purchased for one machine and afterward installed on other devices that violate copyright law.

It’s easy to get sucked into the world of software piracy if you consider the cost of legally obtained software as a burden. However, licensed software guarantees that your progress and functionality will not be harmed in any manner. Your information and equipment will be safe from malicious programs as it works to their maximum capacity.

Companies looking to keep their software safe from piracy should get in touch with Onsist. We are an anti-piracy company that offers comprehensive solutions and services such as brand protection, copyright protection, DMCA takedown, and a lot more.

Get in touch with us for a free demo and learn how we can keep helping you with software piracy.