Software fight against pirates comes to S.F. (Software Publishers Association names Elisha Lawrence as director of anti-piracy campaign in Asia)

Stepping up its battle against software piracy in the Pacific Rim, an industry group representing 1,200 U.S. software companies has appointed a piracy cop in San Francisco.

In most Asian countries, there are more pirated copies of software sold than legitimate ones. Piracy cheated software developers out of an estimated $2 billion in 1994, a quarter of the world's total. In China, India, Pakistan and Thailand, more than 90 percent of the software sold is pirated. That compares to roughly 25 percent here.

In response, the Software Publishers Association has named Elisha Lawrence as director of its anti-piracy campaign in Asia. Lawrence is no stranger to fighting …