The Business Software Alliance (BSA), a Washington, D.C.-based software industry advocate group, recently settled with American Spring Wire Corp. as one in a series of software settlements with manufacturers nationwide, which has netted $1.43 million total in fines. American Spring Wire paid $75,000 to settle claims that unlicensed copies of Microsoft and Symantec software were installed on its computers.
The manufacturing industry has consistently driven settlement totals in the United States, and in 2006 manufacturers were responsible for more than 20% of BSA settlements. This recent settlement brings the manufacturing industry settlement total to $3.79 million since 2005. The BSA has estimated that 21% of all the software in the U.S. is pirated.
By The Numbers: Software Piracy In Manufacturing
$3.79 million: Amount that U.S. manufacturers have paid in piracy settlements since 2005
$7.2 billion: Amount (estimated) that software providers have lost to piracy
$150,000: Maximum amount of damages per pirated software title
$1,000,000: Maximum amount of reward payment for piracy information
Source: Business Software Alliance (BSA)
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