Chase Credit Systems, a financial services company based in Hollywood, California have been fined $300,000 dollars for using illegal software within their organisation.
The firm agreed to pay the Business Software Alliance (BSA) the money after a self-audit revealed that they were using unlicensed copies of software belonging to firm such as Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft and Symantec.
In addition to making their payment, Chase Credit agreed to delete any unlicensed copies, purchase replacement software and strengthen their software management practices.
The BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and they educate consumers on software management and copyright protection, cyber security, trade, e-commerce and other Internet-related issues.
Bob Kruger, Vice President of Enforcement for the BSA said,
"Even well-managed companies can have software management problems.All companies should implement procedures and policies to maintain software compliance and demonstrate to their employees the importance of respecting licensing requirements."
Firms concerned or in doubt about their own licensing are recommended to visit the BSA website where they can download free software auditing tools.