To bring it into modern perspective, I'll use poser as an example. Poser 5 is released, but is only avalable in the States for a price of $250 Poser users from all over are searching & begging, desparate for their copies and not wanting to pay a higher price just because of where they live. Appearing over the horizon is an out-of-work artist who is aware of the high demand. he scrapes together the money for poser 5, buys a box of CD-Rs and then sells & ships the CD's for $50 each. The out-of-work guy now makes a tidy profit, the overseas users have their copies of Poser 5, and curious labs is screwed. Many of the users who get the illegal copies INTEND to buy legal copies when they become available, but most won't. 6 months after the US release poser 5 is released in the UK for the same price of $250, by this time the market has already been flooded with the CD-Rs. *note - this situation can occur with any software, not just poser.