Sony BMG Sued for Software Piracy - Assets Seized

Sony BMG, a company known for enforcing its intellectual property rights, is now facing the other end of an Intellectual Property related lawsuit. A report (French) says the complaining company, PointDev, seized some of Sonys assets which revealed that the pirated software appeared on four of their servers.

"We're not interested in a friendly agreement. This is not just a question of money, but more importantly of principle," rages Paul-Henry Agustoni, CEO of PointDev. "The rate of software piracy software in the business world is very high." According to the Business Software Alliance, an association representing the market's major publishers, 47 % of programs used in businesses would be illegal in France.

"We're forced every week to watch and make sure that pirated keys for our software don't find their way to the Internet. We're a small company with six employees. Instead of spending time protecting ourselves, we could spend that same time improving our company," complains Paul-Henry Agustoni.

Questioned about the fact that this is perhaps the act of a single employee, the CEO of PointDev retorts, "I think that piracy is linked to business politics. If an employee has the necessary budget to buy the software he needs, he will do it. But if he doesn't, he will find alternative means, because the work has to be done one way or another."