Organization offering ‘grace period’ to fess up
An organization that collected more than $58,000 in software licensing fines from two Milwaukee area businesses last year is offering a "grace period" for area firms to report use of unlicensed software.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA), an organization that represents major software companies, is conducting a software piracy "grace period" in the Milwaukee metropolitan area throughout May.
During May, businesses can review their software inventories and acquire licenses to become legally compliant without facing penalties for software violations occurring prior to May 31, the organization reported.
Software piracy has a significant impact on Milwaukee’s economy, according to a recently released state software study, conducted last year on behalf of the BSA. Despite Wisconsin having a software piracy rate that is better than 45 other states, software piracy in the year 2000 cost the state more than $58 million in retail sales and more than 2,000 high-paying jobs, which would have produced nearly $75 million in wages, the report says. Also lost to piracy were an estimated $12 million in tax revenues. (See www.bsa.org/resources/2001-11-01.65.pdf for the study.)
Ignoring the software licensing problem can lead to substantial financial exposure, including penalties of up to $150,000 per copyright work infringed, according to the BSA.
Last year, a Brown Deer firm paid the BSA $35,500 when a self-audit revealed unlicensed copies of Microsoft and Symantec programs on its computers. A Milwaukee firm paid $25,000 after a self-audit revealed unlicensed copies of Microsoft software.
April 26, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
