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Software The Almighty Buck IT

12 Companies Caught Stealing Software in 2007 139

Posted by timothy from the free-software-is-harder-to-steal dept.
buzzardsbay writes "Already forgotten Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report? Here's another kind of 'cheaters' list that folks will want to avoid. Baseline Magazine has compiled the top 12 companies fined by the Business Software Alliance last year for not playing by the rules of asset management. According to the report, many of the BSA's busts are made possible through a BSA Reward Program, which offers up to $1 million to individuals who report offending companies."
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12 Companies Caught Stealing Software in 2007 More

12 Companies Caught Stealing Software in 2007

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  • here's another list (Score:3, Insightful)

    by yagu ( 721525 ) * <yayagu.gmail@com> on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:24PM (#21988384) Journal

    Here's another list you may wish to avoid: (FTA)

    individuals who report offending companies
    (who may have received up to $1M for their information).
    • Especially as those individuals are often disgruntled ex-BOFHs, who were responsible for keeping the licensing up to date in the first place. Or so I've heard.
  • 12 Companies Caught Stealing Software in 2007? It's the TOP 12 fined... I'm pretty sure more than 12 companies stole...
  • The RIAA are famous for stealing/misusing software. Both Forestblog and Ubuntu, well Ubuntu wasnt stealing but it was worse than they sue many people for.

  • Reward Money not that Great (Score:5, Informative)

    by ironwill96 ( 736883 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:26PM (#21988426) Homepage Journal
    The "up to $1 million" that they always talk about is such a misleading advertisement. The BSA bases the amount of reward money based on the amount of fine that they level against the offending company. Don't think for one second that the BSA is going to give you $1 million for reporting a mom and pop corporation that has 10 copies of Windows XP stolen and faces a fine of $10,000 or so. The $1 million reward is only for cases where the fine levelled (and collected) is in excess of $15 million dollars! The BSA also reserves the right to not pay you anything if they don't feel like it.

    Just some thoughts for any greedy ex-IT people on Slashdot..selling your soul may not be worth as much as it first appears!

    • Re:Reward Money not that Great (Score:5, Insightful)

      by cliffski ( 65094 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:36PM (#21988600) Homepage
      Amazingly, as a software developer, I don't consider it to be 'selling your soul' to report a business that gives itself an unfair advantage over the competition by using software they refuse to pay for. I consider it levelling the playing field.
      There is free software out there if you are on a budget. I didn't realise there was a secret code amongst IT guys to encourage your employer to just steal Microsoft office instead.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by ironwill96 ( 736883 )
        I did not mean to imply that I condone software piracy, I really don't. I too am a software developer but have also worn the IT guy hat on many occasions. The issue is that some of these people reporting the "violating" companies were in fact the ones who helped or suggested pirating the software in the first place. It is that which I find detestable. Yes, the BSA claims that a stipulation for compensation is that you were not involved in the piracy in the first place, but that is often extremely hard t

      • Re:Reward Money not that Great (Score:4, Interesting)

        by jacquesm ( 154384 ) <j@wwAUDEN.com minus poet> on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:56PM (#21989002) Homepage
        Amazingly, as a software developer I don't see any reason to further help billyboys empire along any further than they already are.

        Also I have a bad feeling about ratting out people, if gates-et-al want to make more money licensing they'll either have to lower their prices or increase the quality of their anti piracy measures. These right now have the amazing side effect of locking out legitimate customers which costs those legitimate customers probably a multiple of what the BSA rakes in annually.

        I can see your point, if you live from developing software it makes sense in principle but I feel that software licenses have had their longest time in the sun, and the sooner licensed software for basic functionality dies off the better.

        There will always be a market for quality software sold under license by professionals willing to maintain that software past the point of sale but the windows-word-excel-powerpoint lemon has been squeezed enough I think. It's just customer lock-in and more or less forced upgrades that are driving that now, nothing to do with real software development.

      • Re:Reward Money not that Great (Score:5, Insightful)

        by ludomancer ( 921940 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:05PM (#21989138)
        I completely agree. To me, piracy stops when you leave college, or alternatively, when you are in the position to make a profit by using it. It's great for learning all the available options on the market, and educating yourself with each one, but once you're working at a company who is going to use it to support their business, they need to shell out the cash to support the OTHER guys business. It should be a no brainer. I'd estimate the majority of revenue companies make on software sales come from corporations in the first place. So when companies start stealing from companies, they've undermined the stability of the whole system.

      • Re:Reward Money not that Great (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Todd Knarr ( 15451 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:16PM (#21989322) Homepage

        Possibly, but remember that by the BSA's rules it's irrelevant whether you've paid for the software or not. If you got Microsoft Windows XP included on a computer from Dell, have the COA for the installed copy of XP, have an invoice for the computer but don't have a line item on the invoice for Windows XP, you're a pirate and may get included on this list. Ditto for Adobe. Notice how the same software companies show up on the list of "pirated" software, and the majority of them are companies whose software is included bundled with computers from major makers. How many of those settlements are for real piracy, and how many are just for missing records for bundled software that the BSA knows full well was paid for when the computer was bought but it'll cost the company more to prove it than the BSA is asking in settlement?

        • If you got Microsoft Windows XP included on a computer from Dell, have the COA for the installed copy of XP, have an invoice for the computer but don't have a line item on the invoice for Windows XP, you're a pirate and may get included on this list.

          That won't uphold in court. If you only lack licenses for preinstalled stuff you didn't "enhance" by entering serials you found somewhere on the web (or apply cracks), take it to court and you'll be okay. In the very unlikely case of judge or jury deciding in t

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Trogre ( 513942 )
        To ride the /. meme wave:

        Who's stealing anything? Is MS being deprived of the ability to run Microsoft Office when Joes Super-Cheap Widgets uses their software without paying for it? I think the term you're looking for is 'infringement'.

        I know, I know, I'll go sit down.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )
          Twelve companies who desperately wish they had heard about and deployed FOSS and who a very likely to go out of their way to do that in the future. The best way to 'steal' from the members of the Bull Shit Alliance is to not buy or use any of their software.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cliffski ( 65094 )
          I don't care how your lawyer wants to phrase it, but if someone sells X for Y dollars and you just take it and keep your money and ignore the law, then you are a thief, you can dress it up all you like.
          People arguing about whether its 'theft' or infringement' are just trying to deflect criticism away from something most of us learn from our parents, namely that you shouldn't take the results of other peoples work without paying them (unless its offered for free).
          Who gives a fuck what lawyers call it? Micros

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Trogre ( 513942 )
            Do you apply that principle to music and online content too? I'm guessing you've never watching anything copyrighted on Youtube.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by cliffski ( 65094 )
              Wow. amazingly yes, I don't steal music. Such people do exist. Luckily, because without us, how the hell do you think the content producers pay their rent?
              And believe it or not, if I want to watch a TV show, I watch the show, rather than watch it in a tiny window on youtube.

          • Microsoft office is NOT free. Everyone on Earth knows that.

            Sorry to be so pedantic but you're very very wrong here. Many of the non-techies (even heavy Office users) I know consider Office to be a standard part of Windows. Consumer PCs coming with a 90-day trial preinstalled doesn't help fix that -- after it not launching with a weird "Expired" message, the neighborhood comp kid will, for a few bucks, make it work again.
            Finding an alternative is a no-brainer to anyone with some technical background, but m

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by cliffski ( 65094 )
              people using a word processor can READ. what part of "FREE TRIAL EXPIRED" does an honest person not understand? Don't make excuses for it, people taking software without paying for it is wrong. Everyone knows that. Some try to pretend otherwise to make themselves feel better about doing it.

      • Stealing? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        You forget that this is the BSA we're talking about. Their idea of "stealing" is that you don't still have your purchase orders for EVERY last computer. You thought that sticker on the machine was any good? Forget it. If you lack a PO, you're not licensed to them. Then they use the "force people to settle or you pay even more" tactic so these things rarely go to court.

        But you don't believe me, right? Here's the story of someone who has been through the BSA ringer [ernietheattorney.net].

        Oh well, at least he learned his lesso

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          Oh well, at least he learned his lesson: stick with FOSS. No licensing games, no hassle.
          You mean like the incompatibility between GNU licenses (GPL, GFDL) and Creative Commons licenses (CC-BY, CC-BY-SA)? I can explain if you wish.

          • Those incompatibilities all affect only combining code under different licenses into a single application and then distributing that application outside the company. That affects really very few companies. The vast majority only use F/OSS, which means the different licenses don't interact with each other at all.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MikeFM ( 12491 )
        As a software developer I feel there should be no copyright. I rarely pay for software mostly because the vast majority of proprietary software is overpriced, buggy, and poorly supported. It isn't worth the amount asked but in some cases you still need it due to proprietary file formats that are treated as industry pseudo-standards. In the end, like any industry, it comes down to product quality, return on investment, and customer service. I wonder how long it takes a company using legally purchased copies

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by plopez ( 54068 )
      Spite and revenge is reward enough for most of us. ;)

  • This is fantastic news.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zappepcs ( 820751 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:29PM (#21988462) Journal
    said sarcastically of course, but the next time someone asks me why I think they should just go with the F/OSS alternative to Windows, I'm going to hand them this list..... It basically offsets the cost of learning new programs UIs.

    Say what you want about Linux fanbois, but they do have this one point going for them.
    • And this is not the only thing going for them of course. There's so much going for Linux in the market at the moment, and the UI is not that difficult to learn any more either.

      And then there is the thing of loadsa choices... it's like being set loose in a candy store.
    • "said sarcastically of course, but the next time someone asks me why I think they should just go with the F/OSS alternative to Windows, I'm going to hand them this list..... It basically offsets the cost of learning new programs UIs"

      Using the list of pirates and their fines as justification for F/OSS is bad logic. If companies just buy the software they intend to use, they don't have to worry about huge fines.

      • Car analogy inbound (Score:3, Insightful)

        by zappepcs ( 820751 )
        Hmmmm you just don't get it, do you?

        Lets see: you can drive this Chevrolet if you pay a licensing fee - OR - you can drive this Ford for free (donations welcome).

        If you get caught driving the Chevy without the license, it will cost you way more than the license fee.

        OR - you can simply choose to not worry about the fees and fines by driving the Ford?

        Then again, never mind, you probably are not going to get the point anyway.
        • "Hmmmm you just don't get it, do you?" I do. Apparently you don't.

          "but the next time someone asks me why I think they should just go with the F/OSS alternative to Windows, I'm going to hand them this list....."

          Now if you had said, "Next time someone asks me why they shouldn't just use pirated commercial software, I'm going to hand them this list", then I would agree with you. The list is irrelevant for people who have paid for their software.

          I'm not contesting your second post. It just has nothin
          • The problem is the ridiculously high burden of proof. The COA sticker on the side of the PC? Not good enough. Make sure you have the original PO for every PC. For 10 PCs, that's not a problem. But for hundreds? Ridiculous. While it may be more expensive upfront to go with FOSS, you have to think of it as insurance. Better to pay a bit more instead of getting raped by the BSA, eh?

        • If you get caught driving the Chevy without the license, it will cost you way more than the license fee.

          As another has already pointed out, it should be: "If you get caught driving the Chevy without the license or can't find the proper proof you paid for the license...". Remember kiddies, original boxes, certificates of authenticity, and stickers are not proper proof.

      • If companies just buy the software they intend to use, they don't have to worry about huge fines.

        That's so completely untrue. It's not enough to show that you have the software. You must also be able to prove that you bought the software by keeping every receipt and invoice from every vendor. In many companies, this is the full-time responsibility of one or more employees. Use Windows? $50K a year just to have someone to prove you're allowed to. Fun, huh?

        • "That's so completely untrue. It's not enough to show that you have the software. You must also be able to prove that you bought the software by keeping every receipt and invoice from every vendor. In many companies, this is the full-time responsibility of one or more employees. Use Windows? $50K a year just to have someone to prove you're allowed to. Fun, huh?"

          Any company sufficiently large enough to need somebody to keep track of their software licencing should already be keeping every receipt and inv

          • It's not a full time responsibility of somebody - it's one part of the job of a general asset coordinator. If it's done properly from the start, it takes very little time.

            Actually, zero time for companies that get tired of screwing around with compliance management and upgrade to FOSS.

          • Maybe I'm missing something here, but why in the world would a company need to keep receipts/invoices for capital equipment it bought many years ago? I can see keeping it during the fiscal year maybe for accounting purposes, but afterwards it seems like a lot of paper to keep track of for no purpose I can discern, other than defending against a BSA audit in which you are presumed guilty unless you can prove your innocence.

            And for many small businesses, there may not be a position of "general asset coordina

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sorthum ( 123064 )
        The problem with the BSA audit process is that it's not just the guilty that have to pay up; quite often you wind up with people who paid but can't provide the tremendous amount of documentation the BSA demands (invoices, COAs, purchase orders, etc).

        So yes, it's entirely possible for a company to be totally legit and still fined.
  • MS actually donates BSA nice % of their money they use to look for the stealing companies.
    I'm not saying it's right to steal software, but what I'm saying is, if one day, BSA agent is knocking at your door, DO NOT LET THEM IN without any court order. They have no right to check for your licenses without any court orders. keep that in mind.

    • Re:BSA are MS representive (Score:4, Interesting)

      by HeavensBlade23 ( 946140 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:01PM (#21989080)
      You don't know how those guys operate, do you? If you don't let them in they come back the next day with federal marshalls in tow.
      • And those federal marshalls still need a warrant to search your home. So yea. Ask for the warrant, even if you think you are innocent, because with a warrant they can only search for the items specified in the warrant. Voluntarily opening your doors allows them even greater scope of rights in what they can look for and where.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by numbski ( 515011 )
        At which point you STILL don't let them in without a search warrant. If they want to sue you, that's another matter entirely, but without a search warrant, they have no right to enter your premises.
      • Perfect! They now have a warrant, and you've had several hours to clean up any messes!
      • In a properly configured environment, the delta from "now" and "the next day" should be smaller than the amount of time taken to PXE-install RHEL, Suse or Ubuntu (not Gentoo as compiling KDE or Gnome would take too long ;)) on each of your workstations. With the proper backup strategy, "them leaving" and "morning of the day after tomorrow" ought to give you enough time to restore everything back to "now" (or just keep running OSS).

    • Re:BSA are MS representive (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF ( 813746 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:12PM (#21989254)

      MS actually donates BSA nice % of their money they use to look for the stealing companies.

      This is Slashdot for crying out loud. Can't people get it right by now? It is "copyright infringement" not "stealing." They are two separate laws in two separate categories of law based upon completely different concepts of government. Stealing deprives a person of something real and violates their natural rights. Copyright infringement possibly deprives someone of "potential" revenue and violates a government granted privilege, designed for a specific purpose... motivating the creation and dissemination to the people of useful works.

      I'm not saying it's right to steal software, but what I'm saying is, if one day, BSA agent is knocking at your door, DO NOT LET THEM IN without any court order. They have no right to check for your licenses without any court orders. keep that in mind.

      There's that word again. The problem is, they can usually get a court order if they have probable cause, including a report from a current or former employee or the results of running their "free" license checking software they give people to "ensure your licenses are in order." In many businesses (especially very large or very small ones) simply tracking the licensing is a difficult task, especially if your employees have any level of autonomy. Employees buy software on their own or install things from home. No, restrictive security policies won't stop this completely because the people a the top do it and can override IT and because people in IT themselves do it.

      Realistically, in small businesses where it is too costly to have IT manage everything, you're better off treating your employees well so they are not motivated to cause you pain. In large enterprises, using professional license tracking software and employee agreement that takes responsibility for anything installed and pervasive use of site licenses or open source licensed software is the way to go.

      • From the People's Law Dictionary by Gerald and Kathleen Hill:

        theft
        n. the generic term for all crimes in which a person intentionally and fraudulently takes personal property of another without permission or consent and with the intent to convert it to the taker's use (including potential sale).

        RIAA's music (under contract from artist.) Person downloads without permission with intent to convert to downloader's use.

        take
        v. to gain or obtain possession. This includes downloading copies.

        Copying vs. obtaining an

        • take v. to gain or obtain possession. This includes downloading copies.

          Don't you think it is more than a little deceptive to include the second sentence, which is your own personal comment, on the same line? How do you figure making a copy of something is "taking" it. If I go to the museum and copy a photograph with my camera, do they arrest me on the way out for "stealing" a priceless painting? Gee, not they don't. Someone might say I've "taken" a photograph, but no one would tell the police or employees that I've "taken" the painting. They are separate laws with separate n

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by rtb61 ( 674572 )
            I don't know if you have seen that anit-piracy add but,

            You wouldn't steal a car (no, but I would copy it)

            You wouldn't steal a purse (no, but I would copy it)

            You wouldn't steal a cell phone (no, but I would copy it)

            You wouldn't steal a movie (hmm, just let me ponder the previous examples) ;).

            If there was technology that would let me readily copy any of the initial examples, bugger anybody that tried to stop me. Sometimes commercials can really teach you the exact opposite of what some PR git intend

            • You wouldn't steal a baby.

              You wouldn't shoot a policeman and then steal his helmet.

              You wouldn't go to the toilet in his helmet ...

              And then send it to the policeman's grieving widow

              And then steal it again!

              [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAr7zKxjCDY from The IT Crowd.]

    • Actually in many cases they do have the right. Even if they don't have any proof. A lot of license agreements include an audit clause, and the typical terms are "any time, at the software vendor's discretion, and you pay all costs regardless of whether any violations are found or not". Your only recourse is to not have any software whatsoever with that kind of term in the license, and to provide the BSA with documentation to support this right up front. Then be prepared to spend several times what they're a

  • Should be more aloong the lines of Top 12 Companies that pissed their employees off enough to narc on them.
  • I work in the packaged-software business, and I'd still rather it be called copyright infringement. Words mean things.

  • I thought they went to Linux....

    http://www.novell.com/success/burlington.html [novell.com]

    I guess maybe they should have gone all the way, so to speak...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SQLGuru ( 980662 )
      Maybe after they got this fine they said "screw this" and finished making the switch.....that article doesn't have a date on it, so I can't tell when they made the switch.

      Layne

  • stupid advertising (Score:5, Informative)

    by farker haiku ( 883529 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:51PM (#21988868) Journal
    Not to be a karma whore or anything, but if these pages bothered you like they did me, here's the info you wanted:

    Company: Chef Works, Inc.
    Headquarters: San Diego, Calif.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $102,000

    Company: Roger's Gardens
    Headquarters: Corona Del Mar, Calif.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $73,368

    Company: Datatec Systems, Inc.
    Headquarters: Alpharetta, Ga.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, Borland, McAfee, Microsoft and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $69,000

    Company: RAIR Technologies, Inc.
    Headquarters: Brookfield, Wis.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Microsoft
    Settlement Paid: $150,000

    Company: J&B Importers, Inc.
    Headquarters: Miami, Fla.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $100,000

    Company: Media Lab Ventures, LLC
    Headquarters: Tampa, Fla.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, and Microsoft
    Settlement Paid: $125,000

    Company: AccentCare, Inc.
    Headquarters: Irvine, Calif.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe and Microsoft
    Settlement Paid: $240,400

    Company: Investors Management Trust Real Estate Group, Inc.
    Headquarters: Sherman Oaks, Calif.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $235,000

    Company: Global Microwave Systems, Inc.
    Headquarters: Carlsbad, Calif.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $231,500

    Company: The Waggoners Trucking
    Headquarters: Billings, Mont.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $300,000

    Company: Burlington Coat Factory
    Headquarters: Burlington, N.J.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Microsoft and McAfee
    Settlement Paid: $300,000

    Company: Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
    Headquarters: Topeka, Kan.
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, Borland, Internet Security Systems, McAfee and Symantec
    Settlement Paid: $124,057

    Many of the BSA's enforcement actions are made possible through the BSA Reward Program, which offers anywhere between $5,000 to $1 million to individuals who report offending companies.
    • Thank you so much for this, I got sick of clicking next after the first page. I'm really sick of Slashdot linking to all these hundred page articles with one sentence of each information on each page. Makes me want to RTFA even less.

      • This is beginning to piss me off as well - this is the second article I've looked at today where I've lost the will to finish because of the way it's laid out.

        It's almost as irritating as those posts that link to a blog entry that links to the actual article.

        • Thirding this; that "10 worst keyboards" article was as bad as this. One sentence per page, 10+ pages, and no "print" link to see it all at once. I refuse to tolerate such nonsense, even though I do have adblock so none of the pages have any ads at all....just a waste of time.
    • Ahh, thank you! Looking at all the data at once like that, it's easier to see patterns. Like, every one company on the list seems to be pirating MS products (Office, Windows) and Adobe products (probably Photoshop and Dreamweaver). I would be more interested in seeing aggregate numbers for all companies (instead of a top 10 list) with it broken down by software title instead of by software company. Are those published anywhere?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vux984 ( 928602 )
        Like, every one company on the list seems to be pirating MS products (Office, Windows) and Adobe products (probably Photoshop and Dreamweaver).

        Dreamweaver? More likely Acrobat and Photoshop, neither of which are probably even needed. They usually just need some way to edit images and create pdf files. Basic PDF creation is free if you know where to look, and photoshop is monster overkill for the basic cropping/resizing, blurring a license plate, and redeye reduction that is all many of these companies use i

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Gromius ( 677157 )
      Thanks for that. And its not karma whoring as this actually required some work and was usefull :)

      Seeing the last one now (I couldnt be bothered to keep clicking) leads me to believe that they must have been a victim of the BSA's somewhat onerous required level of proof. I doubt they were intentionally infringing and I bet that in most cases either a) they had paid for it but lost the invoice (but probably had other proof which isnt accepted) b) the software hadnt been properly deleted from a machine but

    • Didn't they switch to Linux a few years ago?

      Maybe they didn't switch all of their computers, maybe they switched back, or maybe they just figured it would be easier to pay off the BSA than go to court.

    • The list is great for software to avoid as high liability.
  • All these companies being sued for stealing Intellectual Property and none of them where Microsoft.
  • Company: Microsoft
    Headquarters: Redmond, WA
    Type of Unlicensed Software: Sound Forge
    Settlement paid: *CONFIDENTIAL*

    Here, I fixed it for you.

  • Burlington (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @02:58PM (#21989034) Journal
    That one is interesting. It moved to Linux years ago. I am guessing that they aquired a new CTO who loves MS and has now cost the company not just the fine, but all the time and money on lawyers and new enforcement. The company should think about going back to Linux.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )
      They probably have a few desktops that run Windows still. So maybe some copies of Office and some copies of McAffee that didn't have all the paperwork for them.
      Should just go and show that you should have gone all FOSS.

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That one is interesting. It moved to Linux years ago. I am guessing that they aquired a new CTO who loves MS and has now cost the company not just the fine, but all the time and money on lawyers and new enforcement. The company should think about going back to Linux.

      What makes you think it comes from the top? I doubt a CTO would decide to make a policy of pirating big-name software. He may just as easily be guilty of lax or ineffectual enforcement of a Linux policy.

      When a company shifts to open source the

  • Microsoft, Adobe, and Symantec (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RobBebop ( 947356 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:00PM (#21989068) Homepage Journal

    Most of the copyright infringement is for Microsoft, Adobe, and Symantec. Some is for AutoDesk. Less for Borland.

    Honestly... besides AutoDesk... none of those companies is even worth infringing upon from.

    When will cheap-bastards learn that there are comparable FREE alternatives? Maybe the $100k fines aren't enough. They should try harder to ruin businesses who insist on infringing. Not to be all bad though, they should also offer F/OSS conversion consultants in exchange for the infringement fines (and as a bargaining chip to lessen the fines).

    • "When will cheap-bastards learn that there are comparable FREE alternatives?"

      When free alternatives have GOOD ADVERTISING... I wish people would stop making ridiculous comments, people as kids n the warez scene (or not so in the warez scene) grew up on adobe, symantec, etc. It's the same reason why people buy the same product/food over and over again, they're used to it and they know they are getting, plus advertisement commercial products get vs joe programmer who released on some niche website for tech n

    • They should try harder to ruin businesses who insist on infringing.

      It's questionable to assume that these businesses "insist on infringing". Many of the companies in question may have been completely legal, but lost track of the purchase orders from their PC vendor that listed all the bundled software. Since the BSA is a guilty-until-proven-innocent system, you can still get nailed even if you really bought all your software.

      And for those that were infringing, we don't know whether it was intentional or not. Some may have been a case of some rogue employee installing so

  • And in other news... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ExE122 ( 954104 ) * on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:03PM (#21989108) Homepage Journal
    A list of 12 Slashdot Users Caught Whoring Karma in 2007

    CowboyNeal [slashdot.org]
    eldavojohn [slashdot.org]
    prostoalex [slashdot.org]
    rpiquepa [slashdot.org]
    theodp [slashdot.org]
    antdude [slashdot.org]
    securitas [slashdot.org]
    freebsddude [slashdot.org]
    Eugenia Loli [slashdot.org]
    Makarand [slashdot.org]
    coondoggie [slashdot.org]
    ExE122 [slashdot.org]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by empaler ( 130732 )
      TripmasterMonkey
      ILuvRamen

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )
      Damn, you got me. :)
    • You forgot CleverNickName.
      That karma-whoring bastard.
      As soon as I get home I'm starting up a group against him. He's always spitting out +5 posts. I don't even know why everyone loves him or drools over everything he writes.

      I think I'll give it some cool, original name, too. I'm leaning towards alt.CleverNickName.die.die.die

    • What about me?

  • Fines? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:03PM (#21989114)
    Top fine is $300,000 and it is corporate, not to individuals... peanuts when you compare what *AA sues private citizens for simply shifting formats.

  • Read the Ernie Ball story (Score:4, Insightful)

    by symbolset ( 646467 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @03:05PM (#21989132) Journal
    It is here. [news.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by alexo ( 9335 )

      I would have loved to have fought it. But when (the BSA) went to Congress to get their powers, part of what they got is that I automatically have to pay their legal fees from day one. That's why nobody's ever challenged them--they can't afford it.
      WTF?

  • I see a pattern (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Maybe they should call it "Top 12 Companies Caught Stealing From Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec in 2007. And Occasionally Autodesk and Borland."

    I'm sure the (Big) Business Software Alliance is going to do a report on all the independent software publishers they have done work for any day now.
  • 1: Lots of Adobe. I think every single one has Adobe and MS products.
    2: Some of the pirated software has readily available free alternatives, like Anti-virus Software for one.
    3: The settlements paid do not reflect the amount of unlicensed software on the list.

    And of course the old question: Define Theft.
  • I'm willing to bet at least some of those companies couldn't find the
    original paper receipts and product packaging demanded by the BSA.
    The BSA's standards are overly strict IMHO, and the last time this
    topic came up, the best advice was from a couple of lawyers who
    posted "don't let 'em past the front doors, tell them to come back with a subpoena."

    Has anyone actually gone to court with copies of purchase orders and
    records of payment to vendors?

    • That's probably pretty much the situation. I'm surprised they don't demand the shipping boxes with the UPS labels also.

  • From the title, I thought it was going to be an exciting tale about a bunch of companies that robbed a warehouse full of software. Such a disappointment to find that it didn't involve stealing at all, but just some boring copyright violation.

    • Such a disappointment to find that it didn't involve stealing at all, but just some boring copyright violation.

      What's not boring is the amount of money stolen from the companies through the legal system. People wonder why the jobs are going overseas.. Many places have lower labor rates and lower risk to doing business. I don't blame them for pulling out and moving to a place less dangerous to business. This does not just impact the companies directly involved. It has chilling effects. The business clim
  • Someone clue me in. Most software I've seen is 'free for personal use'. I haven't seen much that is an alternative to MS and Sym that is free for corporate use.
  • The whole thing is an advertisement for the BSA.

    If it was an actual article, there might have been some sort of analysis done, or some sort of inquiry made. But nope, just took the BSA's word for it.

    How many companies paid $100K rather than deal with it in court?

  • 5 steps to make a profit, BSA style... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by pelrun ( 25021 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @08:47PM (#21994002)
    1. Become disgruntled IT manager at large company
    2. Install pirated software across the enterprise
    3. Quit
    4. Call BSA
    5. Profit!!

  • What About The BSA Members? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by GaryPatterson ( 852699 ) on Friday January 11, 2008 @12:02AM (#21995412)
    Let's write our own list with stories about the BSA members.

    Like... remember when Microsoft ripped off code from Apple's QuickTime and ended up paying $150M to Apple? Or when they pirated that disk compression software and ended up paying... well, probably lots of money... to... that company?

    Okay, clearly my memory isn't perfect here, but who's got a good story about Adobe, Apple, Microsoft or someone else ripping off another company, infringing copyright or otherwise acting illegally?

    After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Let's expose them all!

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