MAIDENHEAD, UK - FAST Ltd, a leading UK authority on Software Asset Management and IT Compliance, providing software, education, consulting and managed services launched a campaign today to provide help to those organizations who are concerned about becoming the next victim of a crackdown on software piracy.

It follows Soho House Group’s decision to agree a settlement with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) for alleged unlicensed use of software.

The London-based company, famous for its Soho House, Babington House and Soho House New York venues, was investigated by the BSA for alleged under-licensing of Microsoft software. The parties reached a settlement and Soho House subsequently paid an undisclosed sum to the BSA.

At the beginning of June, the BSA launched a two-month campaign aimed at companies in London, encouraging users to pay for their software.  London has the highest incidence of piracy in the UK - even when a company insists it made an unintentional oversight or blunder.

The Soho House case, which is thought to involve a considerable sum, demonstrates how the onus is on businesses to prove they have bought their software legitimately.

If a software publisher or other body decides to audit an organization’s software, it will cause significant disruption to the business as well as potential damage to the company’s reputation by being named and shamed should unlicensed software be found. Soho House is a case in point.

The BSA, one of a number of umbrella trade bodies that enforce copyright law on behalf of members, says its biggest recent settlement in the UK was £250,000 in 2007. Last year, it carried out 294 legal actions in the UK.

The value of legal settlements achieved by the BSA on behalf of its members in the UK for the illegal use of unlicensed software is 25 times up on the same period in 2008.