IP Rights

July 22, 2010 (LBO) - A Sri Lankan software industry group cracking down on piracy has warned that foreign companies in the island cannot assume they are covered by software licences held by their overseas parents. The Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global trade association representing the software industry, said it had entered into a settlement agreement with a Japanese manufacturer based in Kansai for software license infringement.

The settlement amount of 315,205,272 Japanese yen (about 3.3 million US dollars), made this the largest ever settlement agreement for BSA worldwide, it said in a statement.

The case, which originated from a report lodged with the BSA Japan software piracy hotline, resulted in a software audit being undertaken at the premises of the company.

Some 3,900 copies of unlicensed software, belonging to BSA members Adobe, Autodesk, Filemaker and Microsoft, were found.

In Sri Lanka, there are cases much smaller than Japan where foreign companies may assume that if their overseas parent companies are licensed, they are automatically covered under their parent company’s licensing agreements," said Shalini Ratwatte, BSA Consultant for Sri Lanka.

"These companies