the effect of piracy. Allsoftware developers spend a lot of time and money in developing software forpublic use. A portion of every dollar spent in purchasing original softwar!e is funneled back into research and development of new software.Software piracy can be found in three forms: software counterfeiting, which isthe illegal duplication and sale of copyrighted software in a form that isdesigned to make it appear to be a legitimate program; Hard disk loading,whereby computer dealers load unauthorized copies of software onto the harddisks of personal computers, which acts as an incentive for the end user to buythe hardware from that particular dealer; and downloading of copyrightedsoftware to users connected by modem to electronic bulletin boards and/or theInternet. When software is pirated the consumer pays for that cost by newsoftware and/or upgrade version being more expensive.Federal appellate courts have determined that operating systems, object codeand software contained in ROMs are protected by copyright. Some lower federalcourts have also determined that microcode (the instructions set onmicroprocessor chips) and the look and feel of computer screens is subject tocopyright protection. Which has created major problems for the widespreaddevelopment of multimedia applications with regards to clearing copyright forsmall elements of text, images, video and sound.The United States Government has been an active participant in protecting therights of the software industry. When the Business Software Alliance (BSA)conducts a raid, Federal Marshals or local law enforcement officialsparticipate as well. An organization known as the Software PublishersAssociation (SPA) is the principal trade association of the PC softwareindustry. SPA works closely with the FBI and has also written an enforcementmanual for the FBI to help them investigate pirate bulletin board systems andorganizations (audits). With the help of the FBI, the r...
