Copyright infringement of software is often referred to in the slang way as software piracy. Not all copyright infringement of software is piracy though as there are several means to commit such copyright infringement. Copyright piracy has become a global problem with software companies losing billions of dollars in revenue because of copyright infringement of software. Some argue that if the software packages were more affordable that they would not copy and provide the packages to their friends.
There is a widespread acceptance under gamers that the limitation of the usage of software prevents the games from being played. As such the gamers often obtain cracks to bypass the digital management systems of the software developers. Most countries in the world have some form of law against the copyright infringement of digital works including software, but the level of enforcement differs widely. Anti-copyright groups argue that the lifespan of software is shorter than that of books or films.
As such the copyright period should be shorter as the majority of products will become totally useless before the copyright expiration dates. They feel that this hinders the development of new products based on existing ones because of the long duration of copyright. Many of the software companies, although up in arms about copyright infringement of software, see the buying and using of a competitor product as a bigger threat that software piracy. They argue that users of illegal packages may at one or other time, purchase the licensed versions because they want to upgrade or because they support the product. Microsoft for instance, allows for some piracy of their products in China because they want to get a foothold in the country rather than having the users work on the Linux platforms and thus completely lose them as potential future Microsoft users.