Entries from BSA Audits tagged with 'software audit'

Unauthorized Software: Costly to Your Bottom Line

The Business Software Alliance (“BSA”) and Software & Information Industry Association (“SIIA”) pursue copyright infringement claims against companies accused of installing unauthorized copies of software. Typically, the BSA and SIIA send letters to businesses and request audits of their computer...

Effective Dates in Software Audits are Critically Important

Businesses that receive software audit demand letters from auditing entities such as the BSA or SIIA, or from software companies like Autodesk or Microsoft, often contend they cleaned up their network after receipt of the letter and should be released...

Adopting Software Use Policies to Protect Against Copyright Infringement Claims

The Business Software Alliance (“BSA”), and the Software & Information Industry Association (“SIIA”) pursue copyright infringement claims on behalf of software publishers, such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Autodesk, among many others. Typically the BSA and SIIA send audit letters to...

IBM Software Audits Involve Complex Licensing Rules

Business owners and managers whose companies have been targeted by IBM for a compliance audit often express surprise at the complex method IBM uses to determine the licensing requirements for many of its server software products, such as WebSphere and...

Life after a Software Audit: Keeping Settlement Confidential

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is an organization that pursues copyright infringement claims on behalf of many software publishers against companies it accuses of violating its members’ software license agreements. Because the cost of litigation in most cases outweighs the...

Judge Rejects Copyright Damages Compilation Components

In Nature’s Enterprises, Inc. v. Pearson (2010), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected Nature’s Enterprises (“NEI’s”) request for damages for each component part of a compilation. NEI had alleged that Pearson infringed ten of...

Costly Software Audit Mistakes

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) are organizations that represent software publishers seeking to enforce the copyrights in the products they publish. In furtherance of this goal, these entities routinely send letters to...

BSA-Supported Organization Adopts Troubling Position On Open-Source Software

Many businesses targeted for software audits initiated by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) often make the decision as a result of the audit process to forego the expense and risk associated with using BSA-member software and instead transition to open-source...

BSA Pursues Software Audits Despite Questionable Information from Informants

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) regularly targets small-to-medium sized businesses for expensive software audits to determine whether those businesses are in compliance with their BSA-member software licenses. In furtherance of that effort, the BSA offers cash rewards to disgruntled current...

What is the BSA’s Definition of Software Piracy?

“Software piracy” is a favorite catch-phrase used by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the software companies it represents. Most people understand software piracy to involve the intentional copying and, in many cases, distribution of copyrighted software to third parties...