The BSA has gotten four more companies in the UK – so called “pirates” – and reached out of court settlements with them. Blitz Corporation, Genetics of Ludlow, Sheffield-based MTL Group and Modular UK all reached settlements described by the BSA as “running into tens of thousands of pounds”.
Blitz was operating approximately 15 PCs containing unlicensed copies of Adobe, Microsoft and Quark software, as well as illegally using OEM editions of Microsoft Windows XP and Vista, and unlicensed student editions of QuarkXpress Passport and Adobe CS3 Master Collection. Student editions – why does everyone try to get away with using these? They are limited at best and are just asking for trouble!
As you can see by these cases, the BSA is not discriminatory as to whom they seek out – no matter what size the business or how many PCs are in use. It would seem like a waste of time to go after a company for simply 15 software licenses. My guess is that they follow up on every lead that they get from their online form and hotline and don’t shy away from going after the little fish as well as the big ones.
Just another reason for software asset management and proper software licensing!