Design News South Africa

Quark joins anti-piracy crusade

LONDON: Quark announced last week that it has joined the Business Software Alliance (BSA) as an EMEA Anti-Piracy member. Membership in the BSA gives Quark the opportunity to actively work with body to assist in the reduction of software piracy and the education of the public about sound software management practices.

Robert Holleyman, BSA president and CEO, said, “We are delighted to welcome one of the leading providers of page layout solutions to the BSA. Quark software products provide extensive value to millions of companies across the region but software piracy has a significant impact for Quark's business and its customers. Quark shares BSA's determination to educate businesses about the risks of using illegal software while enforcing copyright law as required to eliminate illegal software use and protect legitimate customers.”

The BSA recently announced the results of its May 2007 BSA – IDC Global Software Piracy Study which found that 27% of software installed in the UK in 2006 was illegal. This figure has remained unchanged for the third consecutive year, suggesting that current penalties are not a sufficient deterrent against the use of counterfeit or unlicensed software which has led the BSA to call for a more aggressive campaign

Quark is now actively supporting this campaign and agrees that any reduction in the piracy rate could help the publishing sector grow substantially, generating new jobs and opportunities for the local economy.

“More aware”

“As Quark expands into new geographies, we are becoming more and more aware of the need to address the issue of software piracy, not just in Western Europe but particularly in Eastern Europe where it is limiting the growth of the local economy,” said Matthew Wallis, senior VP sales, EMEA, Quark.

“As a worldwide leader in publishing technology, we are continually driving innovation through our software. Piracy only serves to undermine innovation on a global scale as it limits the return on R&D investment across the entire software development industry.”

According to the May 2007 BSA – IDC Global Software Piracy Study, software piracy has many negative economic consequences, including local software industries crippled by competition with pirated software from abroad, lost tax revenues and jobs from lack of a legitimate market, and decreased business productivity from using unsupported and early version software.

These costs also reverberate up and down the supply and distribution chains and greatly effect the viability of a strong software channel market.

Let's do Biz