Definition

• When you buy software, you are expected to adhere to the licensing agreement as defined by the manufacturer. This is often called an End User Licensing Agreement (EULA). Piracy is essentially when you copy or reproduce that software without authorization given you through the license.
  
  

Types of Resistance

• Software publishers have methods of countering illegal copyright infringement. The most obvious is through lawsuits filed in civil court, or in pressuring authorities to file criminal charges. Yet companies can also initiate audits of specific businesses. They might mandate that consumers call the company itself for the necessary authorization codes to begin using the software.
  
  

Estimated Costs

• Some estimates state that roughly a quarter of all the software circulating in the United States is pirated material. This suggests huge financial losses for vendors and producers. A 2001 study by the Software Publishers Association claimed that international losses exceeded $10 billion that year alone.