I can’t imagine there’s a software company on earth that hasn’t lost significant revenue to software piracy.

And while copyright laws protect small software developers in the same way they protect huge public corporations, even with irrefutable proof, it’s difficult for small, private developers to receive legal protections and remedies in the court system because of the attorney fees required to start the process.

For example, if a pirate gives away $30,000 worth of software and the attorney wants a $10,000 retainer plus daily fees, the breakeven point for the software developer is reached quickly. Corporations with their own legal departments eat this easily. Small developers, though, find the cost of litigation is prohibitive.

Some smaller software developers simply give up. Others take a different approach and spend a significant amount of money on software protection mechanisms which, unfortunately, are frequently a step behind the software pirates.

Large software companies also have their own coalitions which protect their “partners”. The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) members include the big companies; the Microsofts, Apples, Symantecs, etc.

So it’s with pleasure that small software developers read reports like the one about the Australian internet pirate jailed in US. According to the article, US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg for the Eastern District of Virginia said, “Whether committed with a gun or a keyboard – theft is theft. And, for those inclined to steal Intellectual Property … they are on notice that we can and will reach them.” The nice thing is that, while mentioning the well-known companies such as Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, Symantec and Novell, the article also mentioned the “smaller companies whose livelihood depended on the sales revenue generated by one or two products.”

To the Feds who pursue software pirates for the big boys (and in doing so interfere with the theft of software developed by smaller software firms) those small software developers say, “Thanks and more power to you!”