Melbourne firm signs $11K settlement with BSA

Software industry body BSA has settled a copyright violation lawsuit against a Melbourne recruiting firm that had allegedly been using Microsoft software without a proper licence.

Under the settlement agreement, the recruitment firm has agreed to pay $11,190 in damages and to purchase a legitimate licence to Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise edition.

In a statement, the body’s Australia committee chair Clayton Noble said the agreement “highlights the financial risks businesses take if they use unlicensed, non-genuine software”.

The use of pirated software also exposes companies to greater risk of security threats from malware, he added.

“The recent BSA Global Software Study revealed ‘security threats’, including access by hackers and loss of data, are the chief reasons computer users around the world cite for avoiding using unlicensed, non-genuine software,” he said.

The US-headquartered BSA has operations in around 60 countries worldwide.

Image courtesy of Steve Jurvetson under CC