Adobe counteracts software piracy in India

BANGALORE, INDIA: Piracy-free is worry-free! Adobe Systems, the world’s most diversified software company, is fighting the high rate of piracy in India with this new adage.

The software giant is combating piracy and non-compliance through a campaign comprised of combined education and enforcement measures. Besides, the company has also launched a number of enforcement activities in New Delhi.

The Adobe Systems' campaign targets both end users and businesses in India that are using and profiting from pirated Adobe software.

"Adobe is working hard to educate the market on the risks associated with using pirated software as it is often corrupt, can breach personal and business information security, and even interrupt business continuity as businesses recover from the damages," said Sandeep Mehrotra, director of sales at Adobe, India.

“We will continue to promote intellectual property (IP) protection by working alongside local governments and agencies to identify resellers, businesses and end-users who produce, distribute and sell unauthorized copies of Adobe software”, Mehrotra added.

According to a company spokesman, during recent enforcement measures in New Delhi, the law enforcement team seized hundreds of unlicensed copies of Adobe products, including Adobe Photoshop CS3, The Adobe Creative Suite 3, Adobe Acrobat 8, Adobe Flash CS3, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 and Adobe Illustrator CS3, respectively.

Adobe solutions are used daily by many of the leading organizations in a range of industries, such as publishing, government, financial services, telecommunications, and education. Customers include Hearst Magazines, the United States Internal Revenue Service, Deutsche Bank, Nokia, Yahoo! Inc. and thousands of other leading organizations worldwide.

Adobe Systems' primary customer segments include: Knowledge workers and enterprises, Businesses and government organizations, Creatives and Designers, High-end consumers and Partners; and Developers.

According to the fifth annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), 69 percent of personal computer software in 2007 was obtained illegally, impacting revenues of businesses in the region.

Additionally, an IDC economic impact study released in January of this year found that reducing PC software piracy in India by ten percentage points over a period of four years could generate an additional 44,000 new jobs, US$3.1 billion in economic growth, and US$200 million in tax revenues.