A major transport company is to pay £25,000 to the Business
Software Alliance for using unlicensed Adobe and Microsoft
software.
Menzies World Cargo, part of the John Menzies group, agreed to the
payment after the BSA was tipped off that it was using unlicensed
products.
Des Vertannes, managing director of Menzies World Cargo, said the
company had not paid sufficient attention to IT asset management
during a period of rapid growth.
"Menzies World Cargo was only formed in May 2000. Bringing together
five separate organisations, through acquisition, in the timescales
we achieved resulted in us facing huge integration issues," said
Vertannes.
"We inherited a complex IT infrastructure. Our IT team was
overwhelmed with the essential job of keeping the business
operational. As a result, like so many other companies which are
restructuring and fast growing, software management was not given
the attention it needed."
BSA regional manger for northern Europe Siobhan Carroll said that
once the tip-off was received, BSA lawyers asked the firm named to
check its software licences. "Based on that information we work out
a settlement or issue proceedings," she said.
Menzies, she added, had co-operated fully when it was made aware of
the problem.
Kit Burden, IT partner at law firm Barlow Lyde & Gilbert,
thought the BSA could, ultimately, face a dilemma with its
approach.
"If the recipient of one of their letters does not comply with
their request for a full disclosure of actual usage of the listed
computer programs, the BSA may have to resort to litigation
[alleging breach of licence terms]," said Burden. But, he added,
this could mean going only on the basis of alleged infringements
passed on by disgruntled ex-employees.
"The risk here is that they are unable to make good such
allegations and, therefore, face the prospect not only of an
embarrassment in PR terms, but also the burden of the other side's
legal costs," said Burden.
Nevertheless, Burden warned users not to be complacent. "On the
basis that some of the allegations will prove to be true, licensees
should not underestimate the importance of a proper asset and
licence management programme to ensure that they remain within the
limits of their licensed use," he added.
A BSA representative said that it would only move on companies
where it had good intelligence. "The BSA has so many leads it
doesn't act unless it is pretty certain."