Anti-Piracy - Outreach Aimed at SMEs

Business Software Alliance (BSA)

The BSA has a main anti-piracy communication program that it adapts to target SMEs in different countries. The Truce campaign offers SMEs the opportunity to "get legal" (replace pirated software with genuine software) within a limited time period without facing penalties for past infringements. This campaign has been carried out in countries as diverse as Morocco and the UK. Apart from posters, radio and TV advertisements, the campaign often involves direct marketing to businesses offering to audit their software to check if all of it is legal, and if not, offer free advice on how to legalize their software situation. In some Asian countries, BSA also uses Reward campaigns (usually in the form of posters and print advertisements) to encourage employees to report businesses using pirated software to a BSA hotline.

 

The UK Patent Office

The UK Patent Office website pages on counterfeiting and piracy include a guide to offences and to the level of fines or prison sentences which different forms of counterfeiting and piracy offences can incur.  

 

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

The 2005 Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) initiative aims at creating awareness among American SMEs on why and how they should protect their intellectual property domestically and abroad. The campaign includes free information materials from a dedicated website (including the Protect your Small Business from IP Theft brochure), targeted seminars, and announcements on relevant Web sites targeting SMEs.