[Ocean]

Originally Posted by Wayne Luke

Actually we spend tens of thousands of dollars because of Piracy on a monthly basis. There are lost support hours as they try to get support from us. There are lawsuits because the software is being used in an illegal manner and "we gave it to them". There is a full time lawyer on retainer. In the past, we have even caught one competitor using a pirated copy simply to copy features out of the software. However, the most widespread use of piracy is customers who purchase a single license and then power half a dozen or more forums on different sites with it.

I never said that piracy doesn't result in a loss of money - just that it doesn't always result in a loss of money (taken on a case by case basis).

And your providing support for pirated versions of vB doesn't count (in my opinion) - as doing so increases your standing with vB users across the world (pirated as well as legitimate). In effect, you are improving your PR immensely.


Poll your users to see how many of them purchased vBulletin directly because they encountered (or used it) first as a pirate version. The answer might surprise you.