Piracy is Microsoft's biggest competitor in the software market; but the computing giant says it is winning the war.
This is according to Charl Everton, Microsoft anti-piracy lead, and Business Software Alliance vice-chair, who says education, awareness and changing the perception of piracy are critical.
“More legislation is needed in order to drive the correct behaviour because, currently, the copyright act is not strong enough to act as a deterrent against piracy.”
Everton says Microsoft has taken a zero-tolerance attitude to resellers who do not comply with the company's mandate.
Open innovation
Mark Lange, Microsoft senior policy counsel, agrees with Everton that piracy is damaging to businesses, and that intellectual property rights enhance open innovation, particularly for small and medium enterprises.
“Without the legal framework provided by intellectual property, most companies would be extremely reluctant to disclose innovative ideas and new technologies to potential competitors for fear of being pre-empted in the marketplace,” explains Lange.
“People think of the exclusive nature of rights and it gets interpreted as a barrier. How you exercise those rights is at the person's discretion.
“It's very important to educate people about licensing and increasing the overall awareness around intellectual property rights, and we believe that we are making headway.”
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