Software Piracy Fight Makes Enemies

ADVANCE FOR NOV. 26 AND THEREAFTER; graphic shows breakdown of revenue and expenses for the Business Software Alliance; 2c x 4 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 114.3 mm (Pete Santilli - AP)

However, there are ways to get in trouble that do not begin with counterfeits or downloads. Companies sometimes legitimately buy software and fail to follow the letter of the licensing agreements that accompany the programs.

For example, computers often get handed down. Newer, faster machines go to employees who perform intensive technical work, and their old PCs go to colleagues with lesser needs.

Commonly an employee can transfer a copy of, say, expensive drafting software to a new machine. But many companies forget or don't realize that the software should be deleted from the old machine if the company has only one license for it _ even if the receptionist who gets the hand-me-down PC never uses drafting software.

The situation is further complicated because software licenses vary greatly. Some programs can be shared on multiple computers in an organization, or used by the same person on a home and office computer.

Multiply such oversights by dozens of software programs, and suddenly a BSA audit can lead to a charge of big-time piracy.

"They call it something awful, but sometimes you grow so fast, you can't keep control of everything," said Mike Lozicki, president of MediaLab Ventures LLC of Tampa, Fla., which paid the BSA $125,000. Lozicki said 12 percent of MediaLab's software was deemed out of compliance, much of it sitting unused. "It was some really obscure stuff," he said.

The BSA enforcement director, Jenny Blank, wouldn't comment on his case.

BSA audits zing companies for software that came with used computers they bought to save money. The BSA considers software pirated if a company can't produce a receipt for it, no matter how long ago it was purchased. Software boxes or certificates of authenticity are no help, because the BSA argues the software could have been obtained from an illegitimate source.

No wonder, then, there are companies that exist mainly to help other businesses track and comply with their software licenses.

Robert Holleyman, who has headed the BSA since 1990, countered by saying a lot of companies have figured out how to get their software licenses in order.

"I don't agree with the assumption that license management is necessarily a complex task," he said. "I think that to suggest that it's impossible to do _ which is not your word, but is your inference _ would belie the heroic efforts of the vast majority of software users."

Yet it's safe to say the software industry has not exactly handed its customers a product that is easy to manage. That's one reason why Britain's Federation Against Software Theft _ an industry group that, like the BSA, pursues scofflaw companies _ has a sister division that educates companies, for a fee, on how to stay compliant.