A client of mine, architect/design firm, has a branch office over on the other end of the state. I take care of their network over on my end, another consultant from another firm takes care of their network down there.
We're both only reponsible really for the networking, antivirus, e-mail, the usual stuff like that..plus he takes care of their Timberline services down there (construction software). The design guys purchase/install their own design software, Autocad and Adobe stuff, etc etc.
Well the office down there got bagged bad....by Autocad, for licensing issues. Over $100,000 in fines. So far. Ooooey! There goes XMas bonuses this year.
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anywho, the way autoupdates work on the web nowadays, it's pretty easy to get caught with pirated junk when it runs in the background lookin for updates to itself. not always a whistle blower.
Yeah if you plan on running pirated software either A. Be extremely nice to your employees who know or B. Never let them know.
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ACAD seats are anywhere from 1500 to 6000 bucks a pop. 100k in fines would suck, not only cuz it's a whole ****pot of money...but ACAD blows monkey nuts. You'd think a 6k proggie would have all the memory leaks and bugs worked out. Not the case tho, ACAD/LDD/Survey has some very interesting attributes.
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stilldrunk wrote:yeah they're really coming down on companies, guess to make up for all the pirating in china & russia
The Middle east is notorious for that as well. In Iran you can go and buy a CD full of stuff for about 2 bucks.
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YeOldeStonecat wrote:
Well the office down there got bagged bad....by Autocad, for licensing issues. Over $100,000 in fines. So far. Ooooey! There goes XMas bonuses this year.
Who set these fines, AutoCAD or have they already been to court? How big of a company was this?
Ouch, that's gotta hurt the wallet Yea Cat (fixed...sorry for calling you YoS), doesn't look like your going to be getting a Christmas bonus this year.
Scott wrote:Who set these fines, AutoCAD or have they already been to court? How big of a company was this?
Dunno who set the fines, was just IM'ing with the other consultant for a while. He said "Possibly be facing criminal charges"...so I'm guessing not to court yet. Size of the company...hmmm....was in their office down there once a long time ago, around 10 peeps down there, but that's only office staff that I saw...prolly at least another dozen on the road, construction, foremen, etc.
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YeOldeStonecat wrote:Dunno who set the fines, was just IM'ing with the other consultant for a while. He said "Possibly be facing criminal charges"...so I'm guessing not to court yet. Size of the company...hmmm....was in their office down there once a long time ago, around 10 peeps down there, but that's only office staff that I saw...prolly at least another dozen on the road, construction, foremen, etc.
Yes I believe the laws were recently changed now to make it a crime. Load of crap IMO
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YeOldeStonecat wrote:Dunno who set the fines, was just IM'ing with the other consultant for a while. He said "Possibly be facing criminal charges"...so I'm guessing not to court yet. Size of the company...hmmm....was in their office down there once a long time ago, around 10 peeps down there, but that's only office staff that I saw...prolly at least another dozen on the road, construction, foremen, etc.
Sounds like it hasn't gone to court then, not yet. I'd think it would be settled out of court, with no criminal charges, unless AutoCAD wants to pursue. Seems a lot of these are settled out of court for lesser, but still substantial, fines. I believe many BSA suits are that way. Even when they are in the right, it seems playing hardball gives software companies bad publicity. Only 10 people? Small company, could be worse than no bonus, could be no more company.
Scott wrote:Sounds like it hasn't gone to court then, not yet. I'd think it would be settled out of court, with no criminal charges, unless AutoCAD wants to pursue. Seems a lot of these are settled out of court for lesser, but still substantial, fines. I believe many BSA suits are that way. Even when they are in the right, it seems playing hardball gives software companies bad publicity. Only 10 people? Small company, could be worse than no bonus, could be no more company.
When Novell came in and simultaneously raided my house and business for having a copy of a Beta version of Wordperfect for DOS (6.1), they thought I was couterfeiting their software and making a bundle. They claimed a loss of over 2.5million dollars because 6 people had downloaded the software from my bbs. I went to court with just myself and they had about 6 attorneys. I adjourned 2 times and told them that its gonna cost them more then its worth. They finally agreed to 250,000 judgement in their favor and stipulations that I would not go to the press or the internet or discuss the case for a period of 3 years and I wouldn't have to pay. They just wanted the press release and Im sure the Tax break since they claimed 2mill in losses, and maybe possibly insurance monies. They sold the wordperfect unit to Corel 6 months later.
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Scott wrote:Sounds like it hasn't gone to court then, not yet. I'd think it would be settled out of court, with no criminal charges, unless AutoCAD wants to pursue. Seems a lot of these are settled out of court for lesser, but still substantial, fines. I believe many BSA suits are that way. Even when they are in the right, it seems playing hardball gives software companies bad publicity. Only 10 people? Small company, could be worse than no bonus, could be no more company.
Yah, not sure what the details are. I'm to do an audit of their office down here by me too now.
Small company, yes. But HUGE money. The richest area in CT, and the richest area in New York, is both locations of theirs. Projects they do start in the 7 digit range, most are 8 digit prices. It's absolutely incredible...the design style they do. Many are rennovations incorporating antique homes. They'll scour the countyside up in VT or NH, looking for old barns 'n stuff...to break down, and utilize the wood and framing, so the new builds will often have an antique look to them.
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YeOldeStonecat wrote:Yah, not sure what the details are. I'm to do an audit of their office down here by me too now.
Small company, yes. But HUGE money. The richest area in CT, and the richest area in New York, is both locations of theirs. Projects they do start in the 7 digit range, most are 8 digit prices. It's absolutely incredible...the design style they do. Many are rennovations incorporating antique homes. They'll scour the countyside up in VT or NH, looking for old barns 'n stuff...to break down, and utilize the wood and framing, so the new builds will often have an antique look to them.
I missed the part about it being an architectural firm. They should understand the concept of intellectual property. Wonder if the officers knew what was happening or if the users just installed the software on their own, not that it will matter much.
Scott wrote:I missed the part about it being an architectural firm. They should understand the concept of intellectual property. Wonder if the officers knew what was happening or if the users just installed the software on their own, not that it will matter much.
Not to mention the fact that it can be quite easy to lose track of your licensing, next thing you know you're out of compliance and you never meant to be. Happens a lot, partcularly in these BSA cases from what I've seen/heard. Seems to me they use to give some kind of grace period though, to get things taken care of and all your licensing legit. Granted, that's for having to many installs vs. per seat licensing. Not when you end up with stuff on your machines that you have no licenses for.
Noevo wrote:Not to mention the fact that it can be quite easy to lose track of your licensing, next thing you know you're out of compliance and you never meant to be. Happens a lot, partcularly in these BSA cases from what I've seen/heard. Seems to me they use to give some kind of grace period though, to get things taken care of and all your licensing legit. Granted, that's for having to many installs vs. per seat licensing. Not when you end up with stuff on your machines that you have no licenses for.
Yes, it can get out of hand real easy with some licensing methods. I'm not 100% sure, but I think with AutoCAD, you either have a license or don't, especially with only 10 users. That's why I wondered if the officers of the company knew about it, or it was just the users doing as they pleased.
So far. Ooooey! There goes XMas bonuses this year.
Yea Cat (fixed...sorry for calling you YoS), doesn't look like your going to be getting a Christmas bonus this year. 