There are hundreds of small companies that build their businesses around the media and entertainment industry. This includes offering their creative computer animation talents for the development of new movies and video games.

These smaller firms-though respected and applauded for their creative expertise-don't always show the same respect toward the developers of the software they use. Often, animators are hired on a project basis and the firms that hire these animators try to minimize their expenses by cutting corners.

One of the primary areas where they cut corners is in the purchase of legitimate software. With illegal copies of software available at rock-bottom prices over the Internet, it's easy for these firms to simply download the software for the project at hand.

Other firms invest in a single legitimate copy of the software, yet ignore the license agreement that entitles them to install the software on one computer. Instead, they make illegal copies of the software and install them on all the computers in their company.

Intellectual Property in the Software Industry

Thirty-five percent of the packaged software installed on personal computers worldwide in 2005 was illegal, amounting to $34 billion in global losses due to software piracy. This is according to a study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) that was conducted by IDC market research firm.

Autodesk, Inc. is a founding member of the BSA and is one of the world's leading software and services companies. Its animation software portfolio for digital image creation, 3-D animation and visual effects has been used to create popular video games and Academy Award®-winning films.

"Smaller firms in the media and entertainment industry can be creative while still being profitable and license compliant," said Sandy Boulton, director of License Compliance at Autodesk, Inc. "We are investing millions of dollars in research and development to create the software they use. As such, we see ourselves as partners with our customers and hope they would respect our intellectual property as much as the world should respect theirs."

Motion Picture Industry Losses Reach Record High

A new study from the Institute for Policy Innovation estimates that motion picture piracy amounts to $20.5 billion annually. According to the study, "Absent piracy, 141,030 new jobs would have been added to the U.S. economy. Of this total, 46,597 jobs would have been created in the motion picture industries while 94,433 jobs would have been added in other industries." The study concludes that this type of piracy impacts not only the movie producers, but the owners of the intellectual property and all U.S. consumers and taxpayers. As a result, the small animation firms that pirate software are actually hurting the industry in which they hope to thrive.

To learn more about the software piracy issue or to download free resources to help you remain compliant, visit www.autodesk.com/piracy or call (800) NO-COPIES.

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