BSA gets tough on licensing


6 Nov 2002

The Business Software Alliance (BSA), a watchdog group representing the world’s leading software manufacturers, announced this morning that it has issued Circuit Court proceedings in Ireland against Curley Smith Design Partnership for an alleged software licensing infringement.

It is alleged that the firm of consulting engineers had unlicensed copies of Autodesk software programs installed on office computers.

“Ireland has some of the most up-to-date laws protecting software copyright in the world, but Irish companies continue to flout the law. The BSA is serious about protecting the copyright of its members’ products and we urge all businesses to examine their software management policies immediately. If they don’t, they could face severe penalties,” said Julian McMenamin, chairman of BSA Ireland.

It’s been a busy week for the BSA. Yesterday, in one of the largest and most organised cases of European software piracy, the Italian finance police and the BSA closed down an internet piracy ring with an estimated turnover of over €60m. Counterfeit software and other pirated goods were being sold through illegal websites. The joint investigations, lasting several months, led to synchronised raids across nine Italian provinces including Milan, Bologna, Naples and Trieste, resulting in one person being formally charged and 10 further suspects being identified.

Goods seized included 100,000 software products prepared for duplication onto CD and DVD, computer hardware, plus thousands of other illegally produced media including the latest film releases and video games.

By Dick O’Brien