Software Piracy Forensics: The Need for Further Developing AFC

Among all the available approaches for software piracy forensics, one existing and exceptional approach is the theoretical frame work called AFC (Abstraction-Filtering-Comparison), an accepted approach in US courts for evaluating copyright infringement claims involving computer software. Through this paper, the authors would like to approach AFC in a threefold manner: One, to discuss the nature and efficacy of AFC; two, to recount some existing observations on it, and three, to identify areas, if any, where there is scope and need for appropriate modifications to further increase the efficacy and validate the legitimacy of the AFC approach, and in particular from the view point of a researcher who believes that software intelligence offered by the automated tools for software piracy investigation needs to be supplemented with manual intelligence for making the expert report more judiciary-friendly.