Sussex engineers settle BSA licensing stoush

Engineering design firm Project Options to pay £33,000 for unlicensed software including new purchases

Billingshurst engineering firm Project Options has been forced to cough up £33,000 after the BSA found it using unlicensed Autodesk software.

Anti-piracy alliance the BSA indicated that Project Options had been dobbed in by someone who posted to the BSA website in confidence. The alliance then asked the West Sussex company to audit its software use.

"In addition to paying £16,000 by way of a settlement, the company also had to purchase new software licences to the value of approximately £17,500," the BSA said.

"Project Options worked co-operatively with the BSA, revealing that unlicensed Autodesk software was being used within the organisation."

Paul Daly, director of Project Options, said software licensing hadn't tended to be a priority.

"This is where our troubles started. In addition to discovering that we were using unlicensed software, we also discovered that some contractors had downloaded and used unlicensed software," he said.

"Since agreeing a settlement with BSA, we have purchased the correct licences for all the relevant software and have also moved to a subscription-based model."

Daly said he urged all small business owners to review their software licensing regularly. Software Asset Management (SAM) systems can also help companies manage their software use.

According to the BSA, which numbers many leading vendors among its members, about one in four applications in use could be unlicensed, going by a study it performed in 2011.