Fast puts the squeeze on directors over copyright

Fast (Federation Against Software Theft) is putting the squeeze on company directors by bringing criminal charges for copyright violation of software licences within companies.

John Lovelock, Fast's legal affairs manager, said: "We found that some directors were getting blasé. They were saying 'When was the last time there was a prosecution? When was the last time anyone was jailed?' We have two cases in progress and anticipate that there will be around three to four per annum."

Fast has turned to using section 109 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, which allows a search warrant to be issued by a magistrate if a police officer has reason to believe that an organisation is infringing copyright in the pursuit of its business.

The organisation was behind two police raids in December and January. Lovelock said he couldn't give any details as the matter was sub judice. Before this year, Fast had pursued offending companies through the civil courts, allowing them a chance to settle out of court.

Now directors face up to 10 years' imprisonment and the collapse of their business if they use unlicensed software.

Lovelock said: "It's in the directors' and companies' own interests to know what software they have. A colleague on an audit for a company found that it had £3m worth of software that wasn't on its asset register – that could make a real difference in any takeover.

"And it's in all our interests that piracy be stopped. We're no longer a manufacturing nation: we are a creative nation. If we can't stop this [copyright violation] nobody's going to go in for it. We'll all lose."

Lovelock quoted an IDC report that estimates that if piracy was reduced from its current level of 25 per cent to 15 per cent, the overall value of the UK IT industry would be boosted from £37.5bn to £54.4bn and 40,000 jobs would be created.

A recent survey by Fast found that 47 per cent of corporate Britain believes that software piracy within companies is on the rise.

Lovelock said: "We need to rattle their cages. This is a message to directors that they need to be aware."