BSA offers 'truce' in software piracy fight

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By Matt Berger

(IDG) -- A trade group representing some of the world's largest software makers launched a program this month intended to rid corporate desktops of unlicensed software without the use of legal action.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is encouraging companies in five major U.S. cities to audit their computer systems and identify any software running on their machines that doesn't have a license. Companies able to obtain licenses on illegal versions of software by the end of the month will be let off the hook without facing any penalties. Penalties for each violation can typically cost as much as $150,000, the group said.

Called the "software truce" program, the industry watchdog group is targeting companies in Atlanta, Portland, Oregon; Kansas City, Missouri; New York, and Oklahoma City. In a radio advertisement that can be heard at the BSA's Web site, Bob Kruger, the group's vice president of enforcement, says the trade group is looking for disgruntled employees to identify possible infringements and turn in their employers.

"Most of the calls come from current or former employees," he says in the radio ad, which is airing in each respective city.

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The BSA has launched several investigations into companies that are suspected of using illegal copies of software programs, often concluding with costly penalties. A Fort Lauderdale, Florida, aviation manufacturing company called Dayton Granger Friday agreed to pay $120,000 to settle claims with the BSA that it was running unlicensed versions of software from Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Microsoft and Symantec on its computers.

The BSA contacted Dayton Granger about its possible software infringements, which conducted a self audit on its computer system and confirmed it had more copies of software than it had licenses to support, the BSA said. After settling on a penalty fee, the company also agreed to delete any unlicensed copies, purchase replacement software and to strengthen its software management practices.

The BSA, along with many of the software companies it represents, such as Microsoft, have aggressively targeted corporations that use unlicensed software. Such offenses contributed to worldwide industry losses of more than $2.6 billion last year, the group said.

The July Truce program is the fifth campaign of its kind to take place in the U.S. The first took place in August 2000. The program has also been launched in other countries, including Mexico, Thailand, the U.K. and Denmark.

To ease the process of identifying unlicensed software, the BSA makes available on its Web site a free download for a set of software tools to audit corporate computer systems.

"If an organization is not already under investigation by the BSA, they should take advantage of this," said Debbi Bauman, a BSA spokeswoman.