Computer Services Firm Agrees to Pay $500,000 to Settle Claims of Unlicensed Software Use - BSA
13-Feb-2012
|
Source :
|
Visits : 10300
WASHINGTON - The Business Software Alliance (BSA), the voice of the world’s commercial software industry, announced in a press release a settlement with PCS-CTS of Houston, TX. PCS-CTS agreed to pay $500,000 to BSA to settle claims that it had unlicensed copies of Adobe, Filemaker, Microsoft, and Symantec software installed on its computers.
As set forth in the settlement agreement, the company agreed to delete all unlicensed copies of software from its computers, acquire any licenses necessary to become compliant and commit to implementing stronger software asset management (SAM) practices. The agreement does not however constitute an admission of liability on behalf of PCS-CTS. BSA was alerted to the unlicensed software use by a confidential report made on its web site www.nopiracy.org. The settlement announced with PCS-CTS is the largest BSA settlement in Texas to date.
PCS-CTS is a global company that provides end-to-end international supply chain, specifically in managing international vendors, inventory management, Third-Party-Logistics and Vendor Managed Inventory for top computer technology companies.
The company currently does business as PCS Acquisition, Inc., a Delaware corporation; Peripheral Computer Support, Inc., a California corporation; Computer Technology Solutions, LP, a Delaware limited partnership; and PCS Peripherals Pte., Ltd., a Singapore private limited company.
“Texas has consistently ranked within the top three states for software piracy reports to BSA since 2008,” said Jodie Kelley, BSA’s vice president of anti-piracy and general counsel. “Companies are exposing their IT systems to malware and other serious security risks associated with pirated software when installing one piece of software onto multiple computers without acquiring an additional license.
In the US alone, the world’s largest software market, one in every five copies of software is pirated, which represents a commercial value of nearly $9.5 billion in 2010 to the US industry. Though the US currently boasts the lowest measured piracy rate in the world at 20%, the sheer size of the market ensures staggering losses to the economy despite the lower levels of piracy.
The Business Software Alliance is the leading global advocate for the software industry.