As you get feedback on your product specification, solicit advice from people familiar with the law in local markets. Certain kinds of features might affect the international distribution of your product. For example, United States export laws govern the sale of products that contain encryption algorithms, such as those used for file compression or copy protection, to certain countries. Software that connects with telephones can be more difficult to sell in Europe, where some governments closely regulate the use of phone lines. Software and documentation that is marketed in France must be in French, and software marketed in Brazil must support hardware that is developed locally.
In Germany, competition law severely restricts a company's ability to claim that its product is better than another company's product. This directly affects advertising and packaging, but it can also affect sample files, documentation, help files, or features that assist users in making the transition from a competitor's product to your product. Productivity features, such as those that keep track of how long a user has been editing a document, might conflict with labor laws.
Another important legal consideration is, of course, software piracy. Microsoft works with the Business Software Alliance (BSA), located in Washington, DC, to protect its products overseas. (Figure 2-4 shows one of Microsoft's logos used in anti-piracy literature.) The BSA conducts educational campaigns and lobbies governments for tougher piracy laws. The efforts of the BSA have proved more effective in preventing piracy than adding copy-protection code or hardware devices to products. Although counterfeiting is illegal in many countries, some countries still allow local companies to market clones of software products. Before you enter a new software market, research these issues. Keep in mind that entering new markets requires diplomacy. Microsoft's well-publicized efforts to establish Windows in mainland China is a good case study for any company seeking to expand its operations. Microsoft was not aware of the politically sensitive issues of developing products offshore for import into the People's Republic of China when it began developing and marketing the Simplified Chinese edition of Windows. As a result, the company unwittingly angered the Chinese government. Now Microsoft is working very closely with the Chinese government and local developers to ensure the full success of Windows 95.
Figure 2-4 One of Microsoft's anti-piracy logos.