Economics and Software Piracy

The copyright violation of computer software which is usually known as software piracy involves the unauthorized copying of computer software. This kind of software piracy is very common. Many companies have copyright laws which applies to software, but the degree of control varies.

If computers software were inexpensive, would people pirate less? Lowering the prices of software would be an effective solution if profitable factors were the primary cause behind piracy. Software developer companies can lower the price of their software by producing it in large volume.

Experts in these disciplines ranging from economics, sociology and psychology have observed the motivations behind software piracy carefully. There is no internationally accepted explanation for software piracy. But experts in multiple disciplines have given a number of reasons that contribute to a person's decision to steal software.

It is true that most of the people steal software because of its cost, but let us forget the money issue for now. If the price is higher for a person then what he/she is willing to pay, that person might pirate the software. A common explanation for software piracy goes something like this: The software company is large and makes billions of dollars. One stolen piece of software would not effect the economical conditions of an organization. In other words, since the organizations can not feel the loss so, stealing from them isn't wrong.

A research into this concern suggests that most of the software pirates steal programs regardless of the software's price tag. A study suggests that most of the people view digital property differently than physical property. They don't place as great a value on software as they would to a physical object like a vehicle or a House. People think that stealing a software isn't the same as stealing a physical object because the software is being copied rather than taking a physical object. In short, stealing a software is not a crime because they feel software to have less value than physical objects.