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The PC manager at a large construction engineering firm lives in dread of the knock on the door from the Software Publishers Association (SPA). The company bought dozens of copies of AutoCAD but also has dozens more illegal copies. With the economy on the skids and the construction business at a standstill, money is tight, and the company is laying people off. The PC manager feels trapped: "We can't afford to buy more copies, but one of these laid-off employees is bound to report us."
If the SPA shows up with federal marshals, the company will be hit with a huge fine and be forced to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of AutoCAD. The company could also suffer public humiliation, tarnishing its good reputation. The PC manager finds himself caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. He can lay out the situation to top management and recommend buying $20,000 worth of software or wait for the bust. Either way, he's convinced he'll lose his job.
CARRY A BIG STICK. Since September 1989, the SPA, a software trade group based in Washington, has conducted a number of highly-publicized raids and copyright enforcement actions against a variety of companies. In 1992 the SPA publicized raids against Vicon Industries Inc., a Melville, N.Y., manufacturer of closed-circuit TV components; Starmark Inc., a Chicago-based advertising agency; U.S. Intelco Networks, in Olympia, Wash.: Burnett Companies Consolidated Inc. of Houston, a PC training firm; North Carolina-based Cato Corp.; Fred Meyer Inc., a retailer based in Portland, Ore.; and Discovery Toys Inc., in Martinez, Calif.
" Under the law,! we can get up to $100,000 for each copyright infringement plus legal fees," explains Ilene Rosenthal. SPA general counsel. Typically, SPA settlement fines equal the value of the pirated software. According to SPA reports on the settlements, Fred Meyer agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and reimburse the SPA's legal costs. Cato Corp. and U.S. Intelco Networks paid $50,000 each. Burnett paid $46,000. In addition, the companies also bought a sufficient number of licensed copies of the software. The SPA pursues four to 10 cases a week and, in the last year, forced companies to buy $9 million worth...