Digital Rights/Piracy

$172,000 Pirated Software Fine

License them while you can

By Vlad Constandes, SEO News Editor

12th of February 2008, 21:51 GMT

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When you get caught red-handed - in this case, red-computer-handed, you are only left with one option, and that is to pay the fine. You don't want to be in jail and be somebody's pretty face because you had unlicensed software installed on your computer. If there was anything not worth it, this is, there's no doubt about it.

Two companies in San Francisco agreed to pay a combined $172 thousand

in fines, get rid of the unlicensed copies and acquire any necessary replacement licenses. The first was a manufacturer, TruStile Doors, based in Denver, and their share of the pie was of $92,000 for having Microsoft and Symantec software, say, without paying for it, the Business Software Alliance said on Monday.

The second was Minneapolis' Sentage, a national network of dental laboratories and a provider of other dental services, who bore the burden of the rest of the $80,000 for the same two companies' unlicensed software installed on their computers. Both of them agreed to implement stronger software license management practices, the BSA said in a news release.

Both TruDoors and Sentage have been turned in by individuals, apparently, going for the big reward of $1 million dollars that the Business Software Alliance promised for qualifying reports of unlicensed software. Human nature being what it is, I don't think the people ratting out had any remorse after playing the part of the stool pigeon. In real life, however, the cash paid for the 'service' is not as high, often turning out to be actually way less. I guess they're holding back the mil for the big fish in the ocean. It'd be a riot, I think, to catch Microsoft using Windows software without a license, slapstick comedy in its finest and worst hours all at once.

TAGS:

piracy | fine | microsoft | symantec | software

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