In order to help curb software piracy in Southeast Asia, Adobe has partnered with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) as well as other leading software vendors to champion the cause in relation to government, business and consumer use.

The California-based software maker, which has more than 15,000 corporate customers in Southeast Asia, has begun identifying large enterprises that may have purchased fewer licences than required. Each quarter it will issue letters to such organizations, asking them to perform a licence audit. Adobe hopes to ensure that key markets understand:

• the impact of piracy on local economies;
• the business benefits of becoming compliant; and
• how to detect pirated software

According to the recent BSA global software piracy study, in 2003 the world spent more than $50 billion on commercial software. However, software worth almost $80 billion was actually installed. Another study conducted by International Data Group measured the economic benefits derived from lowering the rate of software piracy rate. This study showed that just a 10-point drop in piracy over four years in the Asia Pacific region would add 1.1 million new high-tech jobs, $170 billion in additional economic growth and more than $15 billion in tax revenues (see BSA study highlights benefits of anti-piracy measures).

In India the Copyright Act 1957 includes computer programs, tables and compilations (ie, databases) within the definition of 'literary work'. The author of a literary work is entitled to protection for his/her lifetime plus 60 years. Copyright infringement of software may result in civil and criminal penalties. However, the enactment of strict copyright laws such as these does not always translate into strict enforcement, which is what is needed to really tackle software piracy.

Prerak Hora and Vivek Kathpalia, Nishith Desai Associates - Legal & Tax Counselling Worldwide, Mumbai