This time the poor saps were XMCO Inc., based in Michigan. They paid out $70,000 in a settlement for unlicensed copies of Adobe, Corel and Microsoft products. On top of the 70K, they agreed to delete all unlicensed copies of software on theircomputers, purchase any licenses necessary to become compliant, and commit to implementing stronger software license management practices.
A more extreme case includes jail time. In Austin, Texas, a 24 year old was sentenced to three years in federal prison, three years of supervised release following jail time and a $10,000 fine for selling pirated software on the internet. In addition to time in federal prison, he lost his Porsche, TV and computer equipment! Between early 2006 and September 2007, he and his partners sold an estimated retail value of $2,500,000 in illegal software.
Don’t mess with the BSA! The BSA has also claimed that they expect more cost cutting due to the economic downturn and are looking at a busy year for vendor audits. Just another reason to get your assets in order and be sure you are in 100% compliance.