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Scott and Scott is regularly called upon by the media to comment on the activities of the Business Software Alliance and to advise clients regarding software compliance policies and practices.
BSA Settles Lawsuit Against Nevada-Based Engineering Company for $205,000
Fox Business
The Business Software Alliance (BSA: undefined, undefined, undefined%) today announced that Taney Engineering, Inc. and Taney Cunningham Equipment, LLC of Henderson, Nevada, a joint civil engineering and land survey services company, settled a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (Docket #C08-03132) alleging copyright infringement. BSA initially contacted the companies through its out-of-court audit program.
Software audits: not a case of if, but when
Kathleen Melymuka
?There are two types of companies: those that have been audited [for software violations] and those that will be.? So says Robert J Scott, managing partner of legal and technology services firm Scott & Scott. Recent settlement fines for software licence violations have topped US$500,000 (NZ$800,000), says Scott, and that?s only a small part of the true cost to an audited company. Scott, who has extensive experience defending companies in software audits, spoke with Computerworld?s Kathleen Melymuka about your rights and responsibilities.
BSA Targets Law Firm Software Pirates
Tom Collins
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is a trade group whose members include the likes of Microsoft, Adobe and Computer Associates. The BSA's job is to protect the property and financial interest of members by identifying and recovering damages from organizations using the unlicensed property (software) of their members. And they are aggressive?encouraging disgruntled employees to blow the whistle. Virtually any business, including law firms, is at risk. Even with good intentions, you are likely to have software installed and in use on your computer equipment for which you do not have a license or do not have the BSA?s level of required proof of purchase.
Oracle-SAP suit exposes contract weaknesses
Kathleen Lau
The ongoing legal dispute in which Oracle accuses SAP of "corporate theft on a grand scale" brings to the fore the delicate nature of contractual agreements between software companies.
Spying in the Workplace: Big Money?
Jack M. Germain
The Business Software Alliance launched its rewards program in the U.S. in 2005 to encourage individuals with detailed information about software piracy to come forward and confidentially submit the information. Since then, the BSA claims that it successfully settled with hundreds of companies, bringing in nearly $22 million.
DIGITAL BUSINESS: External audits: fair play on both sides?
Alan Cane
The external audit has become one of the most contentious issues in software management and one that is unavoidable for medium-sized and large companies.
Turtle Creek People
Who's Uptown
Robert Scott is the managing partner of Scott & Scott LLP, a downtown-based law firm that has recently established a program to raise more money for Special Olympics Texas through this year’s Uptown Run.
Networkworld
Sam Stinks
Beware of "helpful" software publishers, because they are out to help themselves, not you. Two stories detail how Microsoft is using their SAM (Software Asset Management) program to squeeze customers. Worse, your friendly reseller may run the SAM engagement as a help to you, then turn you in to Microsoft for any real or imagined license violation.
CIO.com
Sound Off - Taking Sides on Critical IT Issues
At their best, software audits, during which vendors check a customer's network for unlicensed users, are legitimate procedures that let software companies conduct the kind of due diligence that their business demands. After all, licensing agreements are complicated documents whose restrictions could be misunderstood, either innocently or not so innocently.
Dallas Business Journal
Some software police tactics are questionable
Over the past several years, software trade associations like the Business Software Alliance and the Software & Information Industry Association have aggressively pursued businesses around the nation, accusing them of software piracy. The outcome of this pursuit for many enterprises is significant fine money, the need to purchase additional software licenses at inflated prices and meaningful damage to their brands.
Network World
Business Software Alliance: Outright liars or just truth challenged?
Earlier this month, I began talking about the new software Mafia, aka the Business Software Alliance (check out "The software protection racket, Part 1 and Part 2"). Two goals this week: get the BSA to tell me what prompts a software audit, and get Microsoft - one of the primary forces behind the BSA - to define piracy.
Network World
The software protection racket, Part 2
In my last column I mentioned some of the things you and I would consider proof that we acquired our software legally, such as having the original disks, packing material, and paper or folder with the Registration Key. Answer from the BSA: none of that proves you own your software.
InsideCounsel.com
Stealing Software
It began covertly. Someone with inside knowledge of Meritage Corp. quietly contacted the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a trade group that represents some of the country’s biggest software companies, and reported that the homebuilder was using unlicensed software.
Network World
The software protection racket, Part 1
Old Mafia movies portrayed the protection racket as almost honorable, and certainly not complicated. If you pay the crime boss some money each week, he made sure other criminals didn't bother you. The new Software Mafia, represented by the Business Software Alliance, isn't honorable or simple.
Computerworld
Under threat of litigation: How to survive a software audit
"There are two types of companies: those that have been audited [for software violations] and those that will be." So says Robert J. Scott, the managing partner of legal and technology services firm Scott & Scott LLP.
IT World.com
Business Software Alliance Update No. 1
We discussed licensing lamentations last month, and made a brief mention of the BSA (Business Software Alliance). I'm digging a little deeper into their increasingly hardnose tactics...
Computerworld
Q&A: BSA’s informant fee hike is a money-maker, says attorney
The Business Software Alliance last week increased its cash reward for qualified software piracy leads from $50,000 to up to $200,000. When the BSA announced the change, its director of enforcement, Jenny Blank, said in a statement that the increase reflected BSA’s plans to escalate its fight against software piracy.
InformationWeek
Tame Your SLAs
Understanding, let alone properly managing, software licensing agreements (SLAs) can be overwhelming, but don't just shrug it off. Enforcement agencies are taking an ever-more aggressive stance on auditing companies' software use and imposing heavy fines on violators. We take a fresh look at the problem and solutions.
Webpronews.com
Microsoft Sues EBay Software Pirates
Eight people in eight different states are being sued by Microsoft for allegedly selling pirated software on eBay. The software giant says it is hoping to send a strong message those who illegally sell counterfeit products.
CIO.com
Do Vendors Use Software Audits to Scare Up New Contracts?
There are several items to be concerned about when facing an audit from a software publisher. Software Licenses are permissive documents - they explain what you are permitted to do.
Forbes.com
Scott & Scott, LLP Responds to Business Software Alliance Settlement
Scott & Scott, LLP is issuing the following statement from Robert J. Scott, Managing Partner, in response to the Business Software Alliance settlement with Encompass Teleservices, Inc. for $100,000 and LiveBridge Corporation for $75,000.
CFO Magazine
Can I See Your Receipt?
The Business Software Alliance will pay up to $50,000 to anyone who blows the whistle on a company that is found to have unauthorized software somewhere within the organization.
Redmond Mag.com
Software Raids: Surviving an Audit
Software audits are a hassle, an embarrassment, and can result in hefty fines and worse. Here’s how to prepare for, and win, an audit.
ASAP Software
Sofware Asset Management White Paper  (.pdf, 100kb)
In the Dark Over Software Management?
You’re Not Alone
PC Magazine
Software Racketeering
In the San Francisco Bay Area on every radio station from progressive rock to sports talk radio we've been inundated by commercials from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) making threats about software copying.
IDC
IDC Says Piracy Loss Figure is Misleading
It is all too common for a particular group to brandish outlandish statistics in support their point of view. Many egregious examples of this behavior have been displayed by movie, music, and software groups when trying to put a price tag on piracy losses.
SiliconValley.com
BSA Report BS
If John Gantz, the IDC researcher who led The Business Software Alliance's latest Global Piracy Study, was hoping to have the last word on the controversy that's arisen around his research (see "BSA report BS, redux"), he hoped in vain.
Haaretz.com
A Flimsy Connection to Reality
Software piracy is a curse, not only because morally software should not be stolen, but also because of the damage it does to the global software industry.
Computerworld
BSA Pursuing 700 Software-Piracy Probes
The Business Software Alliance, the chief watchdog for U.S. software publishers, rarely raids enterprise customers with federal marshals and court orders, according to Robert M. Kruger...
ComputerWeekly.com
Get Advice Before Filing BSA Audit
Lawyers have urged users to treat the Business Software Alliance's annual software licensing audit return with caution, despite the organisation's assertion that it is focusing on effective software asset management rather than enforcement.
Silicon.com
Software Piracy Swoop Nets $2.2m
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) - a trade group supported by Apple, Intuit, Microsoft and about 20 others - has collected $2.2m in out-of-court settlements in its annual software piracy sweep.
United Press International
Nearly 25 pct. Polled Use Fake Software
A Business Software Alliance poll shows one-quarter of U.S. professionals know their offices use at least some counterfeit software.
vnunet.com
Tif Calls on IT Suppliers to End BSA Link
Blue chip user group the Corporate IT forum (Tif) is urging IT suppliers to withdraw their backing for 'self styled auditors' the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
Medill News Service
Almost One in Four Businesses Pirate Software
Are software pirates those who bootleg Microsoft CDs for personal gain? In the U.S., the culprits are more likely to be local businesses than a solo artist with a CD burner, a new study suggests.
The Independent
Microsoft Sends the Boys Round
In its grand offices opposite the Royal Courts of Justice in London's Strand, law firm Covington & Burling has a dossier on hundreds of British companies.
Newsfactor Magazine
Student Convicted of Software Piracy
A University of Iowa student has become the first person convicted as part of "Operation Fastlink," a U.S. Department of Justice initiative coordinated by the FBI that seeks to reduce Internet-based piracy.
The Journal Register News Service
Former Geek Takes on Software Pirates
She admits she often walked the halls of her high school carrying a box of punch cards used for a room-sized computer that all the nerds worshipped.
Red Herring
INFIGHTING
What's an organization like the Business Software Alliance to do when its No. 1 supporter becomes the sworn enemy of most of the sector it purports to represent?
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