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BSA: Pirate's prison sentence sends out 'the right message'
More to follow as UK courts take piracy more seriously...

By Will Sturgeon

Published: Monday 07 July 2003

The Business Software Alliance has spoken out about the sentencing on Friday of an illegal copier of software who was given 15 months in prison saying it sends out a warning to all other pirates.

The BSA investigated Bilal Khan for three years, before bringing down his one man production line which was selling counterfeit software on auction sites eBay and QXL.

Peter Szyszko, lawyer for the BSA, told silicon.com: "This was certainly a very good result for us. Khan receiving a custodial sentence sends a very strong message out to the pirate community. It tells pirates that one, they can't hide, two, they will be traced and three, they will be caught and they will be prosecuted."

Szyszko predicted that this sentence hands the advantage to law-makers and puts increased pressure on software pirates.

"There is likely to be an increase in the length of sentencing from now," said Szyszko. "The maximum sentence for certain intellectual property offences was recently increased to 10 years and that shows that parliament is clearly taking intellectual property crime far more seriously."

Szyszko also praised the judge who awarded Khan pay £15,000 costs to Lewisham Council Trading Standards, who pursued the investigation in association with the BSA. Szyszko said the award makes it easier for other local authorities to pursue similar cases, where in the past they may have been put off by the costs of lengthy investigations.

Shona Jago, spokeswoman for the BSA, said: "Piracy rates in Europe are falling. When you have a very targeted action such as this the rates begin to fall. Five years ago levels of pirated software were probably around 70 per cent, now it's down to around 25 per cent, which while that's still 25 per cent too much, we are definitely moving in the right direction."

The BSA's internet investigator - who must remain anonymous, as much of his work relies on infiltrating piracy groups - said there are a number of cases ongoing and warned that the net is tightening on these criminals.

He said: "The types of cases we are looking at vary greatly. There are different kinds of pirates out there from individuals such as Bilal Khan to large organised crime groups.

"Knowing that we can now secure custodial sentences for these individuals shows these crimes are now being taken very seriously."