BSA settles with Belfast firms

The Business Software Alliance is celebrating reaching two settlements with media companies in Northern Ireland, after they were found to be using unlicensed software.

In both cases, the companies where made to ensure that they were compliant with the software they were using, costing the companies a combined total of over £15,000.

Radio station owner, Northern Media Group was the worst offender of the two, with several of its recently acquired stations found to be using unlicensed versions of Microsoft and Adobe software.

The firm settled with the BSA to pay £2,500, but admitted liability for the newly acquired stations’ failure to license their software and paid around £10,000 in costs to bring them in line with the rest of the firm’s licensed software.

The other offender was named as Ballyforde Ltd, trading as EDA Media, which was found to be using unlicensed versions of Adobe’s Creative Suite software. The company settled with the BSA, paying £1,000 and legal costs for failing to ensure all of its software was licensed.

"These cases highlight the repercussions of failing to properly manage software licensing," said BSA UK Country Committee member, Alyna Cope. "Disregarding intellectual property laws to chase cost savings in the short term will always lead to more harm than good.

"Neither companies were criminal in their intentions, but they demonstrate that a relaxed approach to software licensing is nearly always followed by added expense and hassle further down the line."