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The Business Software Alliance (BSA), the voice of the world’s commercial software industry, today announced a settlement with CaseData Corporation of Bountiful, UT. CaseData paid BSA $250,000 to settle claims that it had unauthorized copies of Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec software installed on its computers. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to delete all unlicensed copies of software installed on its computers, acquire any licenses necessary to become compliant, and commit to implementing stronger software license management practices. BSA was represented by the Bay Area law firm of Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP..
CaseData provides online data management software solutions for law firms and corporations in the United States. It offers services such as electronic discovery and litigation support, including strategic consultation and project planning, data collection, data restoration, searching and processing, as well as online review and production.
“It is essential that all businesses have adequate licenses for all the software installed on their computers,” said Jenny Blank, BSA’s Senior Director, Legal Affairs. “When services firms such as CaseData fail to develop and implement an effective software asset management plan, they can ultimately learn a hard lesson. In the end, it’s significantly cheaper to purchase legal software in the first place than risk getting caught by the BSA.”
BSA contacted CaseData after it received a confidential report made on BSA’s website www.nopiracy.com. Each year, BSA receives over 2,500 reports of software piracy to its website and hotline 1-888-NO PIRACY. The majority of BSA’s leads come from current or former employees who had information relating to the unlicensed software activity.
“CaseData fully cooperated with BSA requests for an evaluation of its installation and licensing of software, including providing dated information on license acquisition and a thorough investigation and audit of all software installations," said a spokesperson from the company. “The company has worked closely with BSA to develop a comprehensive software license management program that will ensure that all software used on CaseData computers is fully licensed.”
Know it / Report it / Reward it
Under BSA’s “Know it, Report it, Reward it” program, individuals who provide qualified reports of software piracy are eligible to receive up to $1 million in a cash reward. Despite BSA’s national Rewards Program offering as much as $1,000,000 in cash for qualifying reports of software piracy, many of the sources do not opt for the reward. Informal studies conducted by BSA suggest that a key driver for reporting software piracy is the motivation to simply “do the right thing.”
In a report released in July 2008 that focused on piracy in eight states across the U.S., it was found that software piracy cost software vendors an estimated $4.2 billion. Lost revenues to software distributors and service providers were an additional $11.4 billion, for a total tech industry loss of more than $15 billion. Software piracy also has ripple effects in local communities. The lost revenues to the wider group of software distributors and service providers ($11.4 billion) would have been enough to hire 54,000 high tech industry workers, while the lost state and local tax revenues ($1.7 billion) would have been enough to build 100 middle schools or 10,800 affordable housing units, or hire nearly 25,000 experienced police officers.
Under US copyright laws, software piracy can result in fines of up to $150,000 for each software title copied. In addition, the government can criminally prosecute for copyright infringement. If convicted, violators can be fined up to $250,000 or given a jail term of up to five years, or both. These are not just idle threats. Federal judges are increasingly showing little tolerance for the theft of intellectual property, handing down large damage awards against software pirates. This past March, Maurice A. Robberson, and his brother Thomas K. Robberson, from Lakeland, Florida, were sentenced to federal prison for managing several for-profit websites and selling more than $6 million in pirated computer software. Both brothers were sentenced to a collective sixty-six months in prison and ordered to agree to an additional three years of supervised release and pay restitution.
BSA works with businesses to help ensure that their company isn’t at risk for financial, technical, and legal risks associated with illegal software. In addition to resources provided on www.bsa.org, BSA is working with the Small Business Administration to help small businesses develop smart strategies to manage their software. Through the partnership, BSA will educate up to 100,000 small businesses on software licenses, copyright laws, tips on how to purchase safe and legal software online, and how to develop a Software Asset Management program.
Businesses trying to determine whether their organizations are using unlicensed software can download the free software audit tools at www.bsaaudit.com.
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Corel, CyberLink, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation, Embarcadero, McAfee, Microsoft, Minitab, PTC, Quark, Quest Software, Rosetta Stone, Siemens, Sybase, Symantec, and The MathWorks.
Janice Laurente202-715-1540janice.laurente@dittus.com
United States
