A single Japanese manufacturer has agreed to pay no less than $3.3 million (315,205,272 Japanese yen) for using pirated software from a variety of companies. The financial penalty is the largest in the history of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which inked the settlement agreement with the Japanese company which remained unnamed.
Robert Holleyman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the BSA notes that software piracy continues to be a critical problems worldwide. In this regard, he stressed that software companies and the BSA need the help of authorizes in markets around the globe to curb the phenomenon.
“Governments must remain vigilant in enforcing IP laws, and businesses must be equally as vigilant in managing their software assets carefully and legally. I hope that this landmark case for the BSA helps remind organizations worldwide that their possible oversight, or indifference to software copyright, could lead to serious legal ramifications and financial risk,” Holleyman stated.
3,913 copies of unlicensed software were discovered in use at the Japan-based company during a software audit. BSA indicated that the audit was generated by a BSA Japan software piracy hotline report. The Japanese manufacturer that agreed to pay $3.3 million for its use of pirated software was running products from a variety of companies, including Adobe Illustrator, AutoCAD, FileMaker Pro, and Microsoft Office.
“We are disappointed to see that the world’s largest settlement for software piracy in the workplace has resulted in Japan. This settlement simply highlights the continuing need to address software piracy. Piracy prevents fair competition, and eliminating software piracy becomes even more critical in the current market climate where we are starting to see signs of economic recovery,” stated Chair of the BSA Japan committee, Sanae Matsuo.
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