Software makers offer piracy amnesty

Own up now, and we won't hammer you

Companies that confess to software piracy by the end of January will not face penalties and past licensing fees.

Software piracy costs the industry a fortune

That is the gist of an amnesty on offer from Microsoft and other software makers.

The software firms are members of the Business Software Alliance, a watchdog turned sniffer dog in a bid to track down companies which fail to pay licence fees.

Sinners include companies that buy just one copy of a program, then use it on several computers.

"From individual computer users to professionals who deal wholesale in stolen software, piracy exists in homes, schools, businesses and government," the alliance said.

Large fines

Companies that comply with the law pay a licence fee for each user of each software package.

Failure to do so could result in fines of up to $150,000.

Software piracy costs the industry $5.6bn, the Alliance said.

"Because software is so valuable, and because computers make it easy to create an exact copy of a program in seconds, software piracy is widespread," it said.

The amnesty is not open for companies already under investigation by the sniffer dog.