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Feasible Solutions to Software Piracy - Non-Technical Solutions
Non-Technical Solutions
Law and Education | Marketing | Individuals
<<Law and Education>>
Law alone is unlikely to be an effective way to guide the society in a reasonable and fair use of technology since it is too slow to respond to technological advancements. The response of law to software piracy was inadequate to protect the software industry. The point to be made here is that software piracy was a major economic loss to an important industry, yet little was done to protect the software industry.
Therefore, education of the public and the enforcement of law work hand in hand. As ignorance towards copyright and piracy issues contribute to software piracy, there is a need to educate the public on. This helps to foster a better understanding of these issues which in turn results in the greater willingness of the public to abide by the copyright law. Governments should make it a point to ensure that the public is aware of the seriousness of IP abuses and software piracy. Such public awareness on software piracy can be achieved through campaigns and advertisements on the misuse of copyright materials. At the same time, schools can also be proactive by having strict policies and instilling social responsibilities through ethics and moral values.
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<<Marketing>>
The most effective way for interested parties to defeat piracy may be to compete with it [3]. One feasible solution might be to sell the genuine software programs at competitive prices. In addition, the distribution of freebies will most likely appeal to consumers. Also, extra benefits such as providing email advice, tips and online forums [13] can be given to consumers who purchased and registered the genuine products. These marketing approaches might be effective in encouraging customers to purchase the genuine products instead of the pirated ones.
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<<Individuals>>
Last but not least, there must be self-regulation. Each individual must first understand the various issues related to IP abuses and software piracy. From there, he/she must make an effort to abide by the copyright law so as to curb software piracy. The key is that even if each user only shares his or her content with a small set of other users, the content can spread throughout the distribution network rather efficiently [9].
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From our survey, 42.3% of the respondents feel that marketing approach such as selling the genuine products at competitive prices and distributing freebies is the most feasible solution and the next most feasible solution would be educating the public.
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