Recently, radio stations have started playing advertisements informing the listener that if they report software piracy at their place of work, they could receive a reward. While I do not condone software piracy, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the company running the ads, along with the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) use very heavy-handed tactics when dealing with potential pirates. So what should you do if your company receives an audit request from the BSA, SIIA, or some other software company?

• Don’t Ignore It – While it may be a valid strategy to ignore some demand letters, it is not the case with these audit requests. These companies will follow through with court cases. This can increase the costs of defense and possibly limit your options for the future.
• Retain an Attorney – The BSA and SIIA have attorneys working for them with the goal of maximizing the payments made by potential infringers. You need an attorney working for you. An attorney can help ensure that the audit cannot be used against you in court and help you keep certain knowledge confidential. An attorney can help explain the copyright infringement laws – which don’t always agree with what the BSA and SIAA believe constitute copyright infringement. If infringing software is discovered, an attorney can also help you with negotiating the settlement agreement, ensuring that BSA and SIIA cannot publish your infringements publicly and the terms of any re-audit.
• Don’t Buy New Licenses – Once you receive the audit demand, you may feel the need to go out and buy licenses for any non-licensed software. This will not fix the problem and will most likely just end up being a waste of money. The BSA/SIAA will look at the install date and the purchase date to ensure that the software was licensed for the entire time it was installed.
• Don’t delete infringing software – Destroying evidence is never a good idea. This can lead to a presumption of infringement and possibly sanctions. This along with the fact that computer experts can recover deleted information makes deleting the infringing software a bad idea.

If you or your company have received a letter from the BSA, SIAA, or any other software company demanding an audit, contact us at Smith & Associates. The BSA/SIAA will use attorneys against you – don’t go it alone.