B92 looks into use of illegal software

Poverty, old habits, desire to save every penny, ignorance are reasons why some companies in Serbia still use illegal software. Pirated software is downloaded from the internet and then sold at much lower prices than the original one. B92 looks into use of illegal software However, B92's Patrola TV program investigated if this really meant savings for companies. Police discovered more than 310,000 of counterfeited works of authorship in the first ten months of the year, among them computer software. A person who distributes pirated software can get up to five years in prison. The High-Tech Crime Prosecution filed 263 criminal charges for crimes against intellectual property and delivered 210 verdicts during last three years. Perpetrators usually get probation but those who have already been convicted of the same crime are sentenced to prison. Companies who use illegal software are accused of economic offense. “It is said that judiciary is independent, but current judicial practice has showed that those who several times committed these crimes were getting probation, so those punishments had an incentive effect on perpetrators of these criminal acts, because if you get away with an incentive conviction in court once, twice, then you’ll say ‘let me try third time’,” Sasa Zivanovic of MUP (Serbian police) stressed.

B92 looks into use of illegal software

However, B92's Patrola TV program investigated if this really meant savings for companies.

Police discovered more than 310,000 of counterfeited works of authorship in the first ten months of the year, among them computer software.

A person who distributes pirated software can get up to five years in prison. The High-Tech Crime Prosecution filed 263 criminal charges for crimes against intellectual property and delivered 210 verdicts during last three years.

Perpetrators usually get probation but those who have already been convicted of the same crime are sentenced to prison.

Companies who use illegal software are accused of economic offense.

“It is said that judiciary is independent, but current judicial practice has showed that those who several times committed these crimes were getting probation, so those punishments had an incentive effect on perpetrators of these criminal acts, because if you get away with an incentive conviction in court once, twice, then you’ll say ‘let me try third time’,” Saša Živanović of MUP (Serbian police) stressed.