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Los Angeles Area Tech Firms Hit By Piracy Charges

The Business Software Alliance, a software piracy watchdog group, said this week that it has received settlements of more than $500,000 from five Los Angeles area technology firms for installing unlicensed copies of commercial software. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) said that Lake Forest-based FutureTrade paid the group $54,136.97 for installing unlicensed Adobe, Borland, and Microsoft software programs on its computers and Calabasas-based NovaLogic paid $153,500 for installing unlicense Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, FileMaker, MacroMedia, Microsoft and Symantec softare. Other firms paying fines included Marina Del Rey-based Launchpad Communications; Wrightwood-based Mountain High Resort; and RIA Financial in Cerritos. The BSA operates a hotline and online reporting form for employees to report software piracy, and runs software audits at companies to force compliance with software licensing rules. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Borland, McAfee, Microsoft, and other major software providers.