More than 1,000 UK businesses have been caught using counterfeit software licensing in running their operations during the first half of 2010 alone, according to industry watchdog Business Software Alliance (BSA).
According to BSA, these companies have paid £2 million in ‘settlements’ as part of their prosecution cases, with the whole total for Europe and the Middle East reaching £6.5 million. Software licensing conversion accounted for £4 million of the total amount and £2.5 was paid for additional costs.
“We hope that these figures act as a reminder to businesses that if they are caught using unlicensed software, the BSA will take action,” said Julian Swan, BSA director of compliance marketing. “In order to protect themselves, we urge all companies to ensure they are legally sound when it comes to their software use.”
At least one company was required to pay more than £200,000 to correct its illegal software licensing used for its business.
