Microsoft Corp and Adobe Systems Inc are among software companies that lost $13.5 billion to programme pirates and counterfeiters in Europe last year. Their message to lawmakers: Learn from the US and punish the thieves.
As the European Union considers changes to its intellectual property rules, it needs to make sure that higher damage payments deter pirates, who often benefit because of insufficient fines, said Warren Weertman, manager of legal affairs for Washington-based Business Software Alliance. The group’s members include Microsoft, Adobe, Apple Inc and Siemens AG.
“Lump sum damages would act more as a deterrent than having two actuaries fight it out in a costly court case,” Weertman said in a phone interview from London. “It’s a vicious circle where the damages aren’t deterrent enough.” In Europe, about 35 per cent of software deployed on personal computers was pirated every year since 2007, compared with 20 per cent in the US, according to a May study by BSA and researcher IDC. Ben Allgrove, a partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie LLP in London, said the gap is a result of the legal challenges for copyright owners.
“Most EU countries do not have statutory damages and right holders are forced to prove actual loss,” Allgrove said in an interview. “There is a material difference between monetary awards in the US and many other markets,” he said.
Last year, France lost $2.6 billion in pirated software, while Germany lost $2.1 billion, Italy $1.9 billion and the UK $1.8 billion.