Sydney-headquartered telecommunications engineering firm Serveno has been ordered to pay US software giant Autodesk $318,000. 

The Federal Court has ordered the company to pay Autodesk the sum due to copyright infringement of the latter’s AutoCAD software. 

According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), Serveno allegedly made 20 unlicensed copies of AutoCAD. The damages also covered the alleged unauthorised downloading and use of educational versions of AutoCAD by Serveno’s employees. 

Autodesk’s CAD product is computer-aided design software that architects, engineers and construction professionals rely on to create precise 2D and 3D drawings. 

The $318,000 payment comprises $159,000 in ‘compensatory damages’ and $159,000 in ‘additional damages’ was calculated by reference to the three-year subscription price of AutoCAD. 

According to BSA, a global advocate of legal software use, the decision is another example of the application of the ‘licence fee test’ to calculate compensatory damages based on Autodesk’s suggested retail price for AutoCAD and the availability of significant additional damages for specific and general deterrence as well. 

Serveno was founded in 2011 and has offices in India and the US as well as its native Sydney. The company supplies information and communications engineering, telecommunications consulting and business solutions and has partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, Telstra Air and Motorola. 

ARN has contacted Serveno for comment. 

The BSA also revealed legal settlements worth a combined total of $65,500 for using unlicensed software, including AutoCAD, back in 2017. 

The settlements saw the four unnamed Australian businesses agree to pay damages obtained for the use of unlicensed software, according to BSA. 

A Victorian retail fit-out company agreed to pay a $35,000 settlement after it was found to be using unlicensed copies of Autodesk’s AutoCAD, while a Perth firm was fined $10,000 for the same breach.

BSA has settled a total of $65,500 with four Australian businesses over the use of pirated Microsoft and Autodesk software.

A Victorian retail outfit was found using pirated copies of Autodesk’s AutoCAD and agreed to pay $35,000 to BSA.

A Western Australian construction company was also using pirated copies of AutoCAD and settled a $10,000 payment to BSA.

A Queensland IT contractor will pay $2500 to BSA for the use of pirated Microsoft Windows software. According to BSA, this contractor was found to have installed pirate copies of Microsoft Windows onto a number of computers which were subsequently sold to customers.

Another Queensland company, a training institute, settled for $18,000 after it was found to have installed unlicensed copies of Microsoft Office on company computers.

Just two weeks ago, Microsoft settled with a Victoria-based reseller for $450,000 after the business was caught selling pirated Microsoft software. Microsoft revealed it would not cease the relationship with the reseller, sparking unhappy comments on CRN’s story from other Microsoft resellers.

In April, online reseller Moonbox Software was ordered to pay nearly $1 million in damages to Microsoft Australia for selling illegal software keys.

In 2016, BSA settled 14 cases over the use of unlicensed software, totalling $589,000 in damages.

Vendors such as Adobe, Apple, CA, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Symantec are members of BSA.

BSA’s director of compliance for Asia-Pacific Gary Gan said: “It’s important that businesses, no matter of location or industry, are vigilant when it comes to their software and ensuring that they are software compliant. Businesses should look to implement an effective software asset management (SAM) system in order to help them manage their software licenses.”

Businesses caught using unlicensed software were required to purchase genuine software licenses for ongoing use, in addition to paying the copyright infringement damages.

BSA continues to offer a $20,000 reward to individuals disclosing accurate information on the use of unlicensed software.