Campaign guides use of legal software only

Sebrae and industry association warn small businesses about risks of piracy and unfair competition
 
In addition to being illegal, pirated software can cause serious damage to equipment. To guide small businesses on the importance of using a legal program, Sebrae has partnered with the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (Abes) to support the Legal Entrepreneur campaign, whose website is www.empreendedorlegal.org.br
 
The two institutions' main objective is to show the importance of original software to ensure the sustainable growth of enterprises. ”To have a successful business, it is necessary to follow the law and always place original products, programs or solutions within the company. Therefore, it is very important to be in tune with the rules of legal competition and Intellectual Property rights”, says the president of Sebrae, Luiz Barretto.
 
 “The use of pirated programs is an illegal way to gain competitive advantage and a wrong way to reduce operating costs or increase profit margins. In addition to the material damage caused by irregular software, piracy is a crime”, warns Jorge Sukarie, president of Abes. 
 
According to BSA – The Software Alliance, Brazil still has a software piracy rate of 53%. The same entity points out that if this type of illegality were reduced in Brazil by ten percentage points, in the next four years more than 12,300 jobs would be created and more than US$ 4 billion would be returned to the Brazilian economy.