| Unlicensed software costs business |
| Tuesday, 30 March 2010 02:36 |
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Legal action teaches UK companies an expensive lesson in IT compliance.
Legal action teaches UK companies an expensive lesson in IT compliance. Unlicensed software has cost European businesses over £10.2 million in 2009 as a result of legal action by the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Last year, the BSA received nearly four thousand leads regarding companies using unlicensed software and conducted 2,256 legal actions across Europe. The total cost to UK business in 2009 was just shy of £960,000. This figure includes around £440,000 in damages and over £520,000 on license purchases necessary for future business use of software. "Over the year, BSA stepped up its legal efforts, securing a greater number of settlements in Europe than in 2008," said Sarah Coombes, Senior Director, Legal Affairs EMEA for BSA. "These results send out a strong message. In this tough financial climate, companies need to ensure that the software they use is properly licensed. Otherwise, they risk incurring the costs of legal action, in addition to the expense of acquiring new software licenses," she said. The £10.2 million cost to business only represents the amount paid out as a direct result of BSA legal actions. The real cost is actually higher as this sum excludes companies’ own legal costs, as well as other indirect expenses, such as disruptions to business operations, the impact to cash flow when having to make unplanned software purchases, damage to companies’ reputations and the repercussions of operational downtime, as a result of using unsecured software. Michala Wardell, chair of the UK BSA Committee, said, "While the BSA has a strong legal programme, we are also committed to educating businesses on the importance of legal software use and making it easier to stay compliant. We offer a range of information, free tools and advice." "These help businesses to better understand and manage their licensing requirements. There is an important advantage in keeping to the right side of the law, which often gets overlooked. Effective management of software can save money, by identifying underused software," said Wardell. As well as the cost to business, unlicensed software use also has a significant and detrimental effect to the economy. According to IDC’s 2008 Piracy Reduction Impact Study, a ten percent reduction in software piracy could contribute £6 billion in economic growth, increase tax revenues by £1.47 billion to support local programs and services and generate 13,622 more jobs. Newer news items:
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