when i have a commercial studio, i will have a disclaimer for all clients:

there is a $20,000 penalty if you book time for reasons other than we have agreed upon, specifically if you come to my studio to bust me for piracy, or are affiliated with ban piracy in any way.

ill put it in small print at the bottom of the forms you must sign to book studio time. that has to be legal, its what all the big companies do (“hey you signed it”).

i dont agree with piracy, but this is effed, and i will never buy waves plug-ins because of this. there are plenty of great alternatives these days, like wave arts etc.

There will probably be a slight uptick in the use of legitimate software instead of pirated software, mostly just due to public awareness from this news issue, which is a good thing.

People who switch software will mostly likely choose any product on the market BUT Waves, losing that company far more money than they will ever gain from their handful of lawsuits.

Studios are businesses too, as it turns out, and they do not take industrial espionage lightly. The days of the casual studio tour showing “the works” will come to a close. Prospective clients will be vetted before the day of their appointment, or kept in the reception room and shown some gold records.

Enlightened, intelligent companies with good customer relationships and fair pricing will continue to gain market share, while the litigious rear guard fights its twilight war against a dwindling pool of users.

BanPiracy will eventually pick the wrong victim or push their tactics too far, and find themselves in a world of trouble with the courts.

Now there seems to be no information regarding the number of successfully prosecuted cases, so I don’t know if they have actually had any. My guess is they are relying heavily on settlements to bankroll any litigation they may have to deal with. I would think that they are making the settlements “affordable” meaning slightly cheaper than having to go to litigation. This is a tactic I see commonly used in other IP cases. The defendant would rather pay a small licensing fee, and penalties, rather than pay legal fees, and possibly face loosing the case.

Now with having said that, there is no reason that banpiracy.com has any real onus to take care in building a good case. The mere threat of pending litigation could be enough to scare a studio into paying up, even if no crime were committed. Once a small number of studios decides to stand up to them, they will need to start fabricating cases, and result to extortion to stay in business.

So while what banpricay.com is doing is not illegal, it opens up the strong possibility for abuse. Any evidence they collect would probably not be admissible in court, but since they probably never get to court, it really doesn’t matter.

I’ve seen companies like banpiracy.com in many other industries. In the end, they cause some harm, make some money for themselves, and eventually go away when their business model no longer is profitable (which isn’t usually very long). Most companies in most industries would rather have strong PR, than deal in seedy ventures like these.

Keep in mind, while piracy is a problem, most software companies do not want to resort to extreme measures like this, and risk loosing potential customers.

In the end banpiracy.com will fade away. If they are smart they will do so before they start bring false accusations, but only time will tell.

Organizations like this exist to protect…
I guess you think b2b is bad too huh?

The way a lot of you are talking is similar to a Chinese company crying because there are watchdogs who noticed the lead in the toys you manufacture and now they are CSI:Mattel??

please get the fuck off the net

We have a War On Terror, and a Ban on Piracy. What next, a caution on infringement? A stern finger waggle on file sharing? Are these wannabe Bobba Fett of Copyright going to get cool uniforms? Is Jerry Bruckheimer writing a new crime show for them as we speak? CSI: VST??? What about Law & Order: Software Division???

Also, i think we can all at least meet on common ground to consider that people who WILL buy and people who WILL NOT buy are quite strong demographics. The people who MIGHT buy are the ones that need to be encouraged. For me, I cant even IMAGINE pirating Ableton, i quite simply buy it and rely on it to do what it should, occasionally dialing home to check for upgrades, but i would consider moving to Cubase if they suddenly hired storm troopers and made people feel like they are being watched.

PS, Im getting rid of the couple of Waves plugins i own, and am moving to the excellent TC suite of plugins. Its not much, but i think in a market where everyone is making relatively equivalent quality software, i can put my money on the side of companies i like more. See ya waves! Never did much like your Rverb anyway :P