Small software company sues SonyBMG for piracy

Sony BMG, whose strong policy against violation of (its) intellectual property rights is well known, is currently the one to be accused of such infringement. As we learn from ZeroPaid the complaining company, PointDev, seized some of Sonys assets which led to the discovery that the pirated software showed up on four of their servers.

PointDev’s complaint resulted in one of Sony BMGs buildings being the subject of a raid about two months ago. During the raid four servers belonging to the Sony BMG were found containing the pirated software.

Apparently the company came to know this when an IT department employee asked for assistance for the use of a product called Ideal Migration. As technical support examined the situation, to their surprise they could see that the key used to start up the software was not a licensed one.

A French report whose translation came via Google Translation tells about PointDev’s determination to reveal to the public how giant companies are keen on abiding law only when it serves their interests:

"We are not interested in an amicable settlement. It is not just a question of money but more importantly in principle, storm Agustoni Paul-Henry, CEO of PointDev. The rate of software piracy in the company is very high. "According to the Business Software Alliance, a association of the major publishers in the market, 47% of programs used in the company would be unlawfully in France …

Basically, the PointDev CEO says that according to the BSA, Sony presents a software piracy rate of 47%. This seems to extend the gravity of the matter as CEO also stated that piracy Sony may include piracy in its business policy - if you can't afford it, pirate it. The rumor has it that at the time of the episode Sony was in the middle of establishing the merger with BMG.

Zeropaid says that Sony did not want La Province to reveal anything about the present investigation making it obvious that the big company wishes this case hadn’t gone public.