Businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa have
paid out £6m this year to settle disputes with theBusiness
Software Alliance.
The BSA has received £435,000 from UK companies in settlements
and payments for getting properly licensed in the first half of
this year.
Overall, firms across EMEA paid out £2.1m in settlements and £4m
in licence costs.
The BSA has pursued a policy of taking legal action against
companies that break software licensing laws and accepting
settlements from those that are prepared to admit wrongdoing.
"BSA conducts more than 30 legal actions every working day in
EMEA," said Sarah Coombes, senior director of legal affairs for the
BSA.
"In the current economic conditions I am concerned that so many
businesses continue to flout copyright laws by using unlicensed
software," she added.
Last month, the BSA landed its biggest settlement so far, when a
German company was forced to pay out €1.1m in a combination of
damages and licensing costs.
A version of this story originally appeared on
MicroScope.