Online Auctions Fuel Software Piracy

Computerworld - The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) claimed in a recent report that a great deal of counterfeit software is being sold at online auction sites but simple remedies could curb the problem.
The SIIA conducted a review of online software sales on auction sites - including those of Amazon.com Inc. in Seattle, eBay Inc. in San Jose, Excite Inc. in Redwood City, Calif., and Yahoo Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif. - during a four-day period at the end of March and the beginning of this month.
The Washington-based organization found that 91% of the software auctioned was sold illegally. Of the 1,300 online software transactions it monitored, only 138 involved products that contained legitimate software licenses.
A similar review conducted on some of the same auction sites last August turned up a 60% software piracy rate.
Analyst Andrew Bartels at Giga Information Group Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., said auctions provide a new medium through which counterfeiters can sell illegitimate software.
"The issue with auction sites is that they create another venue - a more fluid, slippery venue - for someone to do this," Bartels said.
Easy to Remain Anonymous
"Online auctions may increase the potential risk of counterfeit sales because there now is a marketplace where sellers can extract value in a semianonymous fashion," Bartels explained. "It's much easier to sell counterfeit software online than (to stand) outside of a store in a black trench coat saying, 'Do you want to buy the latest copy of Microsoft Office?' "
Peter Beruk, vice president of antipiracy programs at the SIIA, said the auctioneers can dramatically reduce pirated software sales on their sites by proactively monitoring the auctions. He suggested that auction sites bar sellers from using terms like backup, CD-R, or compilation CD when describing software for auction.
"Pirates are lazy and will go where it's easy to sell products," he said.
Amazon's OK
According to the SIIA, Amazon.com monitors sales closely and immediately removes offending goods from its site. The SIIA didn't find any illegitimate software auctions on Amazon.com's Web site.
The SIIA suggests that consumers take common-sense precautions such as avoiding goods that carry labels such as compilation CD, which indicates that the software has been copied; ensuring that complete documentation is available; and watching out for extremely low pricing.
For example, SIIA officials found Corel Corp.'s WordPerfect Office 2000 selling for $14.95 on an auction site, whereas the suggested retail price is $299.95.

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