JUNE 1990 COMPUTERWORLD SOFTWARE PIRACY RAMPANT, SURVEY SHOWS LONDON - Over $US520 million was lost in illegal software copying in the UK last year, according to a survey on software theft published by the Federation of Software Theft (FAST). The report, funded by Microsoft, Ashton-Tate, Wordperfect, Lotus Development and Frontline, shows 55% of senior managers using PC's at work copy software illegally. Of all senior managers, 41% have currently broken the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. Almost one in three (31%) of senior managers say their company has no control over illegal duplication of software. Bob Hay, chief executive of Fast, says, "When the new act came into force in August 1989, we based our campaign around education and awareness. Our telephones were [busy] for five or six weeks. Mainly it was the companies that wished to assure themselves that they were complying with the new copyright law. The success of that campaign resulted in us having a meeting where we said, "Where do we go from here? We've had our worst suspicion confirmed." The survey looked at 267 senior managers in companies with an annual turnover of over $US90 million and separately surveyed more than 2000 members of the public. It suggests as many as two million people have no awareness of the software copyright law. Peter Bailey, managing director of Lotus, says, "We think we're losing between $US70 million and $US78 million a year. But I think it's a bigger problem for the smaller vendors than for us. Copy protection was horribly inconvenient, and we replaced it with an 'honesty screen'". Paul Sloane, managing director of Ashton-Tate, says, "I was shocked by the results of this poll. This explodes the myth the UK is clean and sensible. Software piracy is the cancer that threatens both the users and the industry. It threatens corporations. It puts them at risk from adverse publicity, risk of prosecution and viruses." "Copying software is theft. No question," says UK Microsoft managing director David Svendsen.