Turning Chinese Piracy Into Revenue 170
itwbennett writes "Weak penalties and a lack of enforcement have made China a hotspot for software piracy, but it is possible to turn some pirated software into sales, says Vic DeMarines, vice president of products for V.i. Labs, a company that helps makers of engineering and design software track the unlicensed use of their products. Forty of V.i. Labs' clients use code to track when an installed application shows signs it's a pirated copy. The data collected makes a record of what organizations in China are using unlicensed copies across how many different PCs. They can then use the data to reach out to those organizations, who might not be aware they are using unlicensed software. 'We think that's a better way to reduce piracy overall,' says DeMarines. 'You need to target the organizations that should have the ability to pay license versus going after individual users or the people who crack the software.'"
Re:This makes a ton of sense (Score:2, Interesting)
Sure, for 7, 14, or even 20 years.
Up to 200? Fuck that. There's something seriously wrong with a system that won't release copyright on anything before my great-grandchildren are dead (and I don't have kids yet!).