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06:47 20th May 2011
The penalties allocated to those not using licensed software are minor and therefore encourage the use of unlicensed software, according to Julian Swan, director of compliance marketing EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) at software industry trade association, Business Software Alliance (BSA).
"It is actually an incentive to use unlicensed software and infringe copyright."
"UK law provides for compensatory damages only," he explained, meaning that infringers simply have to purchase missing software licenses when caught without them.
Mr Swan went on to say that "the fact that infringers can retrospectively acquire licences without fear of penalty does not act as a deterrent to illegal software use".
His comments emerged as the BSA called earlier this month for the UK government to increase the level of damages available as a consequence of intellectual property (IP) theft ahead of the upcoming Hargreaves Review recommendations.
Posted by Derek Oldman
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