VARS urged to act fast over software licensing
Resellers have only four days until Trading Standards officers officially join piracy fight
The countdown has begun to when UK Trading Standards officers have the power to raid firms that are suspected of using illegal software and resellers are being urged to ensure that their customers have the proper licensing practices in place.
From Friday, section 107A of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act comes into force and maximum penalties for online copyright infringement of software will rise from two to 10 years. Earlier this year the government pledged an extra £5m in funding to help enforce the legislation.
John Lovelock, director general of The Federation Against Software Theft (The Federation), told CRN: “It’s up to the channel to get the message out to customers that they must get their houses in order when it comes to software licensing compliance.
“Instead of ignoring software in their businesses, firms need to realise that it is an important issue.”
Michala Alexander, anti-piracy manager at Microsoft, said: “If this legislation helps us in our daily fight to ensure that we have a level playing field in the industry, we support it.”
Channel players welcomed another weapon in the piracy fight, but urged caution in the execution.
Dave Simpson, commercial director at VAR Softcat, said: “Anything that helps people to understand the implications of licensing or pirated software is a good thing, but I hope organisations such as The Federation don’t use it to feather their own nest.”
Shaun Frohlich, chief executive of Teksys, said: “Anybody compromising software copyright should be identified. Any form of additional firepower that’s used to drive software compliance is a good thing and will raise awareness of the wider software asset management issue.” C