Victim of Fraud? The SIIA Will Pay You $500

Written on December 19, 2007  |  by RP Mickler  |  Leave a Comment  | 

Victim of a software scam? The Software & Information Industry Association will pay you $500 for reporting it – the five hundred dollars is offered so you can legitimately buy the software.

In an effort to curb software counterfeiters, the SIIA promotes the program as a “don’t get mad, get even” approach to addressing software piracy – for a limited time, though; the campaign launched on December 13 and will run through January 30, 2008. According to the press release:

“The sale of pirated software doesn’t only hurt the software industry,” said Keith Kupferschmid, Senior VP Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement. “It also hurts consumers. Consumers feel “taken” when they buy software, only to find out when it arrives that the software is a fake — they did not get an instruction manual or can’t get support from the software company. The Don’t Get Mad, Get Even program is a way for unsuspecting buyers to get even with auction sellers who rip them off by selling them counterfeit software.”

Software piracy costs commercial application developers billions of dollars in lost revenue every year. Specifically, this program addresses auction sites like eBay where piracy is a significant problem. SIAA membership includes names like Adobe, Quark, and Symantec.

A link to the qualifying conditions:http://www.siia.net/piracy/dgmge.asp

Full program terms and conditions:http://www.siia.net/piracy/DGMGE_rules.pdf

R