Chief executives who pay little attention to the ongoing growth of their computer systems may find it in their best interest to be very, very nice to all their employees and any outsiders who provide IT support.

They may wish to serve every salary serf a 16-oz. champagne flute of freshly squeezed orange juice - along with the greeting, "You are our sunshine" - upon his or her arrival at work each day.

Giving employees the day off with pay on their birthdays might also be in order, with a gift certificate for two at one of the region's finer eateries.

For if they don't - if instead they are more accustomed to addressing their staff as "hey, you!" - a righteous or vengeful employee might pick up the phone one day and blindside them with the legal consequences of any shortcomings in their computer software licensing.

North America's software manufacturers don't mince words about businesses or consumers that knowingly or unwittingly use software that has illegally been copied. They refer to such transgressions as "software theft" or "software piracy" (the latter perpetrated by persons or companies that trade in copied software for profit).

Software manufacturers make close to $200 billion in packaged software revenue per year around the world. This means it can afford lawyers, brigades of high-priced lawyers - the kind of lawyers who would eat the entrails of a kitten if a billion-dollar client asked them to do so.

So if your nice little business is humming along profitably, computers engorged with illicitly duplicated software, you could be in for a rude awakening by an industry that feels threatened by systemic worldwide copying of its programs.

All it would take to put you on their radar would be someone willing to rat you out.

The industry-run watchdog Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST), Toronto, and member manufacturers such as Microsoft Canada Co. and Adobe Systems Inc. have hotlines for whistleblowers willing to report software theft or piracy.

The only reward is the warm feeling tipsters experience when they have done their bit to keep the world safe for a free-market economy.

"It's stealing to take someone's intellectual property and use it without paying for it," says David Majors of Washington, D.C., a senior enforcement attorney for CAAST affiliate Business Software Alliance (BSA).

"Our member companies have spent a lot of time and money developing software products."

It's easy for the technologically challenged to fail to grasp these legal nuances.

In the years that I worked for a small not-for-profit organization, I had no idea that it would be unlawful to resolve our shortage of word-processing software licences by copying them.

Employees' computers seized up as the number of terminals over time exceeded the number of licences on our server. The problem seemed easy to fix: Copy the software. But my colleagues knew better. We found the money for more licences.

I had no concept of the meaning of purchasing something covered by a terms-of-usage licence.

Software is unique. When you purchase it, there are requirements - spelled out in the end-user licence agreement enclosed in the packaging - that determine how you can use it. This is different from a car or a toaster, which you can use however you please.

"It means you have to abide by the licensing agreement," Majors said. "That means one installation per product."

It seemed shocking to me that a colossus such as Microsoft could reach its corporate paw inside your business or your household and control your usage of something you have paid for and now own.

Upon reflection, though, it makes sense. Computer technology has insinuated itself into every nook and cranny of modern life, and the world as we now know it could not function without this technology.

Any act that threatens the viability of computer development therefore can be seen as subversive.

Last May, CAAST announced the findings of a global study by technology research firm IDC that suggests software piracy costs the Canadian economy $1.1 billion per year in lost retail software sales.

This, suggests a 2003 study by International Planning and Research (IPR), translates into losses of more than 20,000 jobs, $700 million in wages and $17.4 million in federal and provincial corporate income tax revenue.

Worldwide, software piracy resulted in a loss of $41 billion last year, according to the IDC study.

The IPR study revealed that Alberta had the lowest piracy rate at 33.6 per cent. The piracy rates of other provinces included 35.5 per cent for Ontario, 39.6 per cent for Manitoba, 53.1 per cent for Saskatchewan and 47.4 per cent for British Columbia.

Prince Edward Island's inhabitants recorded the highest piracy rate at 65.3 per cent.

However, CAAST is fighting back. It has busted businesses and professional practices across the country, forcing these offenders to make financial contributions to its legal war chest.

For instance:

* Medicine Hat accounting firm Ensminger, Beck & Thompson agreed to pay $20,000 after a self-audit revealed more Microsoft and Adobe programs than it had licences to support.

"We took this opportunity to improve our procedures and educate our employees about the importance of respecting the copyright law," partner Curtis Ensminger said in a CAAST/BSA news release.

* IP Marketing in Toronto agreed to pay $52,371 after a self-audit revealed it had more copies of Adobe, Autodesk, Macromedia and Microsoft than it had licences to support.

"This unfortunate incident evolved without our knowledge as our business grew," an IP Marketing spokesperson said.

* Braintech, a publicly traded developer of vision-guided robotics for manufacturers in North Vancouver, agreed to pay more than $141,000 last year after a self-audit revealed that it had unlicensed copies of Adobe, Internet Security Systems, Macromedia, Microsoft and Symantec.

"We were unaware of the lack of sufficient software licences," Braintech CEO Owen Jones said in a news release. "As a part of our governance processes, we have since developed and instituted new processes ... " Canada's Copyright Act provides two avenues for cracking down on software thieves: Criminal and civil.

CAAST relies on tips and it asks suspected offenders to perform a self-audit and 'fess up to any infringement. Further action, if necessary, could include a court order authorizing it to inspect the enterprise's computers.

"We investigate all instances of software piracy ... " said Majors. "We contact the company, in lieu of filing a lawsuit, and ask them to co-operate with us. In most instances, they do."

However, all this potential conflict and legal expense can be avoided by taking preventive action. Any business should have a software asset-management plan in which it takes stock of its software on a regular basis.

An abundance of reference material is available free of charge. Software manufacturers display such information on their websites and CAAST offers an online software management guide at www.caast.org.

(Brock Ketcham is an Edmonton-based writer who specializes in consumer and public policy issues. He can be reached at brock@businessedge.ca)