Software piracy is fundamentally a violation of intellectual property (IP) rights. These rights are legal protections granted to creators for their inventions and artistic works. In the context of software, IP rights ensure that developers and companies have exclusive control over the use and distribution of their products.

Software piracy is illegal and considered a crime because whenever software is used, copied, or sold illegally, these copyright holders are robbed of their payment and recognition.

Because a software pirate does not have proper permission from the software owner to take or use the software in question, piracy is the equivalent of theft and is, therefore, a crime.

Copyright laws were originally put into place so that people who develop software (programmers, writers, graphic artists, etc.) would get proper credit and compensation for their work. When software piracy occurs, compensation is stolen from these copyright holders.

Software piracy is the act of using, copying, or distributing software without permission. A software pirate is anyone who copies software or uses pirated software, either intentionally or unintentionally. Depending on the applicable copyright laws, software piracy can be illegal and carry severe penalties such as heavy fines or even prison time.