MikroBitti 3/1994, p.18

BSA Comes to Finland to Track Pirates
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Software developers' anti-piracy eye is getting sharper in Finland. Their alliance, BSA, will start operating here soon. They've chosen a Helsinki-based law firm with very high copyright expertise as their partner.

BSA already operates widely in Western Europe and, therefore, it's natural that it arrives in Finland as well, since business applications are frequently copied here. BSA has estimated that in Finland every second application is illegal.

The law firm will be utilized to find copyrighted materials that BSA widely represents. In addition, the firm can already do fieldwork to unearth misuse.

Large software companies operating in Finland have been collaborating with the Association of Finnish Technical Traders when it comes to illegal software issues. All in all, 20-30 software houses operating in Finland will be invited to participate.

BSA is an international organization which collaborates with local authorities and software developers to curb the use of illegal programs. It has spread to 30 countries wordlwide.

After BSA was founded in 1988, more than 300 organizations have been sued for copyright violations.

In their report published last June, BSA estimated that the companies developing and selling software packages lose 12 billion (milliard) dollars because of piracy. In Europe the losses amount to 4.5 billion dollars, whereas in the US the figure was 1.9 billion in 1992. The misuse is most widespread in Asia where 99% of software is illegal.

BOX: The Police Struck
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Piracy really is commonplace in Finland. At the beginning of February the police raided a design agency, where all CAD software was illegal. As part of the operation, the police confiscated the computers to the state.

The court proceedings will be interesting. They will set a precedent that dictates how much compensation software developers receive in losses, or if any at all. In any case, the police raid at least means that certain pirate lords will sleep worse at night.