Software Piracy
Software piracy is illegal and grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal of employees who have illegally copied software. Penalties for illegally copying software are severe. According to the Business Software Alliance website:
If the copyright owner brings a civil action against you, the owner can seek to stop you from using its software immediately and can also request monetary damages. The copyright owner may then choose between actual damages, which include the amount it has lost because of your infringement as well as any profits attributable to the infringement, or statutory damages, which can be as much as $150,000 for each program copied.
In addition, the government can criminally prosecute you for copyright infringement. If convicted, you can be fined up to $250,000, sentenced to jail for up to five years, or both.
It does not make any difference who loads the software. For example, if an employee loads personal software on an CPTC computer and then the software is copied by others at the College, the College is liable even though it was unaware of the activity. Any software on CPTC-owned computers including laptops, tablets, and smartphones used at home, in a classroom or in an office for which Coastal Pines Technical College does not have a license must be removed immediately. This is an excerpt from the Business Software Alliance website.
A Many businesses, both large and small, face serious legal risks because of software piracy. Under the law, a company can be held liable for its employees’ actions. If an employee is installing unauthorized software copies on company computers or acquiring illegal software through the Internet, the company can be sued for copyright infringement. This is true even if the company’s management was unaware of the employee’s actions.