Software Piracy penalties are sums collected by software publishers and their trade groups such as the BSA and SIIA in connection with software piracy audit activity.
The software piracy enforcement groups have developed a standard formula for assessing fines in software piracy audits. It is important to note that these groups such as BSA and SIIA are not governmental entities and have no independent authority to levy an enforceable software piracy penalty or fine. Software piracy penalties are therefore merely offered in settlement to avoid litigation and, like all pre-litigation settlement offers, are negotiable with the help of experienced counsel.
Dated Proof of Purchase Required to Avoid Software Piracy Penalty
Software piracy groups’ methodology for calculating fines starts by treating as unlicensed all software products for which there is a lack of adequate documentation, including dated proofs of purchase. All proofs of purchase must be dated prior to the software piracy audit initial letter to be considered valid evidence. Because companies may not always have access to the requisite dated proofs of purchase, software piracy penalties are often based, in part, on software titles that companies legally own and properly acquired.
Unbundling Software Suites in Software Piracy Penalties
Software piracy groups also unbundle the products in software suites such as Microsoft Office. So instead of proposing a fine based upon one copy of Microsoft Office, the BSA or SIIA proposes a fine for Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. The result is a proposed software piracy penalty of $1,126 for a product that retails for $339.
The Arbitrary 3x Software Piracy Multiplier
After disallowing credit for valid software without dated proofs of purchase and unbundling all software suites, the software piracy groups then apply an arbitrary multiple of three times the full retail price for each software title. Accordingly, one allegedly unlicensed copy of Microsoft Office will carry a proposed software piracy penalty of $ 2,252.
Software Piracy Attorney’s Fees
To add insult to injury, the software piracy penalties will include a line item for $3,500 to pay the attorney’s fees for the auditing agency. While this is not usually a large number as a percentage, it should be taken into account when considering potential software piracy penalties. To calculate your potential software piracy penalty exposure, use our Business Software Alliance Fine Calculator.
Posted by Web Master at 09/22/2008 11:09:43 AM