BSA | The Software Alliance (BSA) is an organization that represents software companies and prosecutes alleged unlicensed use of those member companies’ software products. The BSA generally initially sends a company a letter indicating the company may be out of compliance with applicable software license agreements and demanding that the company investigate and inspect each…
How to Protect Your Company against Copyright Infringement Claims by Disgruntled Employees Seeking a Reward In an effort to enforce the copyrights of its members, Business|The Software Alliance (“BSA”) offers the potential for monetary rewards to any informant that shares information related to software copyright infringement against a company. Many of our clients are facing…
Software audits are a means for software publishers to enforce and regulate use of their copyrighted software, and publishers regularly outsource enforcement of their copyrights to law firms or entities such as the BSA| The Software Alliance (“BSA”) or Software & Information Industry Association (“SIIA”). The BSA and SIIA often send a letter to targets…
Software audits initiated by software publishers or representative entities, such as the Business Software Alliance (“BSA”) and Software & Information Industry Association (“SIIA”), are often resolved by an out-of-court settlement. The carefully crafted settlement agreements release an audited company from liability, contingent on the following obligations: 1) The accuracy of the submitted audit results, 2) Payment of…
Responding to a software audit can be an arduous, expensive, and time-consuming process for a company. The remediation process to close compliance gaps may vary slightly depending on whether the audit is initiated the software publisher itself or outsourced to an agency such as BSA| The Software Alliance (“BSA”) or the Software & Industry Information…
Software auditing entities, such as the Business Software Alliance and Software & Information Industry Association, typically set forth a complex set of requirements for software audits that can be confusing, time-consuming, and expensive. Many businesses faced with software audits are eager to resolve these matters, and choose to pay to settle out of court. Often…
The end of the year is a busy time for software publishers and entities like the BSA | The Software Alliance (“BSA”) and the Software & Industry Information Association (“SIIA”) to resolve an audit target’s copyright infringement dispute by entering into settlement agreements. While it may be advantageous for a company to reach a quick…
More than 90 percent of software audits initiated by software publishers or representative entities, such as the Business Software Alliance (“BSA”) and Software & Information Industry Association (“SIIA”), are settled out of court after negotiating a final settlement payment and terms. Although there are a number of factors that affect an ultimate resolution, timing of…
The International Data Corporation (“IDC”) reports that more than one-third of all software sold is counterfeit, despite often being marketed as authentic or legitimate by a third-party reseller. In addition to counterfeit software, some vendors sell heavily discounted software that is legitimate, but is sold in violation of its license agreement. The Copyright Act shifts…
A software audit may come in many forms, ranging from an offer for a free Software Asset Management (SAM) engagement to a direct audit from a software publisher or its representative organization, such as the Business Software Alliance (BSA) or Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). Unfortunately, many companies do not understand the implications of software…
