Sales Contact:
Las Vegas
sales@portacio.com
tel 702.583.7886
contact sales
Address:
5455 S. Fort Apache Rd. Suite 108-136
Las Vegas, Nevada 89148
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Portacio
Anti-Piracy Information
Many businesses and organizations do not know that they may be using illegal software. The illegal distribution and use of software is a significant problem that negatively impacts Portacio and other vendors. We want to provide you the information necessary to ensure you lawfully use our products thereby getting maximum value from them.
Software piracy is a big problem. Figures from the Business Software Alliance show the industry loses nearly US$29 billion annually from software piracy. Translated into percentage figures, 36%, or more than one in every three applications used in business is used illegally.
Portacio is committed to educating its authorized users and when necessary, bringing those violating our licenses into compliance.
Types of Software Piracy
Software piracy is the illegal distribution and/or reproduction of software. Purchasing software means that you are actually purchasing a license to use the software - and that license spells out how you may lawfully use that software. Any use of the software beyond the scope of the license, would be a violation of the license and possibly, copyright law. Whether software piracy is deliberate or not, it is still illegal and punishable by law.
Software Piracy comes in many forms. Those types that impact Portacio Corporation include:
- Corporate or end-user:
- Under-reporting the installations of software acquired through volume purchase agreements,
- Making additional copies of the software without having the proper number of licenses. For instance, 1 licensed copy is available, yet five additional copies are made from it; and
- Server: Installing the software on a server with access to that server having unrestricted staff access to it (no lock-out mechanisms, counter etc.).
- Subscription Licensing: Using subscription licensed software past the expiration date.
- Internet Piracy can occur in many different facets. These forms include:
- Providing access to software, key generators, activation keys, serial numbers and the like that permit installation of the software through downloads, burned CDs, or in the original packaging
i. The provider is offering a copy; back-up copies may not be distributed.
ii. The product offered was previously distributed in violation of an authorized distributor, reseller, OEM, Academic or other contract.
iii. The product being offered had previously been used to obtain an upgrade to a newer version.
iv. The product is an unreleased or beta version.
v. The provider offering certain Portacio product is not an authorized reseller or otherwise licensed to reproduce or distribute Portacio software. Portacio regularly monitors the Internet, including auction and P2P sites, in order to combat any infringement of our rights.
- Linking to or distributing tools that subvert or undermine the copy protections or time-out functions of software.
- Counterfeiting where one attempts to copy the product and packaging so that it looks like a Portacio original.
- Hard-Disk loading where some unscrupulous suppliers illegally install software to help sell machines. While many suppliers are authorized to install products onto the machines that they sell, in doing so, honest vendors supply the software via agreements with software vendors.
First Steps to Effective Software Asset Management
An important component to an overall effective software asset management program is knowing what you have installed. Regular audits can go a long way to telling you what is installed. Even though you may have policies in place prohibiting your employees from making unauthorized copies, these policies do not stop employees from making copies of software.
There are many software audit tools available to assist you in determining what is installed on your computer network. Running those tools, and then comparing that information to your license documentation, is a great first step in determining whether or not you are in compliance. If you find that you are compliant, congratulations - you've stepped up to the challenge and have done the right thing. If you find you are not in compliance, now would be the time to acquire the licenses necessary to get you back in compliance and review your existing software policy.
Portacio has a program in place to get its users into compliance. The one caveat to this program is that the user must have contacted Portacio before Portacio knew of the alleged piracy at the company. This program is designed to work cooperatively with the company instead of pursuing legal channels.
For more information on this, please contact your sales representative or piracy@portacio.com
Where can I buy authorized software?
This is the easy part. Part of knowing that you have authorized software is knowing where you purchase it from. You can either go to our web site www.portacio.com or go to one of our many partners.
Legal Ramifications
Penalties
Software piracy can subject an individual to arrest and criminal prosecution, with fines up to US$250,000 and prison terms of up to five years. In civil cases, Portacio can obtain the higher of its lost profits plus the infringer's profits, or statutory damages of up to US$150,000 per product. In addition, Portacio may seek to recover its attorneys' fees. As many companies know, the press loves to cover when a company has had to pay significant fines for having illegal software. Don't be one of them.
Portacio also cooperates with Federal law enforcement authorities such as the FBI.
Reporting a Case of Software Piracy
Portacio Corporation encourages you to "do the right thing" by letting us know of instances where a business or individual may be illegally using or distributing our software. Making this report helps us reduce the overall piracy problem, may allow us to better support and modify existing product, and have the resources to compensate our developers for those stolen tools. It also ensures that this business or person does not have an unfair business advantage insofar has having reduced business expenses because they steal their software.
You may send general piracy inquiries to piracy@portacio.com
Note: all information is confidential and will only be used by the Portacio Anti-Piracy Compliance team.
Additional Resources
We support a number of organizations to assist us in this global problem. For more information, tools, and resources, you may want to visit:
BSA (www.bsa.org)
The Business Software Alliance is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent the fastest growing industry in the world. BSA educates consumers on software management and copyright protection, cyber security, trade, e-commerce and other Internet-related issues.
CAAST (www.caast.org)
Established in 1990, the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft, is an industry alliance of software manufacturers that share the common goal of reducing software piracy. CAAST provides educational information to corporations, consumers, academic institutions, and resellers about software theft and its implications. CAAST works with the Business Software Alliance.
FAST (www.fast.org.uk)
The Federation Against Software Theft was set up in 1984 by the British Computer Society's Copyright Committee. It was the first software copyright organisation. Its' first action was to raise the awareness of software piracy and to lobby Parliament for changes in the Copyright Act 1956 to reflect the needs of software authors and publishers. This campaign was successful and it has since been able to influence other legislation that impacts on the proper safeguarding of software. The work of FAST in this area has directly influenced the way that software copyright law and investigations are carried out in many other countries.
SIIA (www.siia.net)
The work of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has brought together the leading companies of the software and information industry, expanding market opportunities and forging the way toward a stronger industry. SIIA is the only trade association with a global reach that provides a credible, unifying voice for all businesses that provide the software and information that underpin the digital economy. SIIA protects the intellectual property of members, and advocate a legal and regulatory environment that benefits the entire industry. SIIA provides a neutral business forum for our members to understand business models, technological advancements, industry trends and "best practices".
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