Court finds US Navy guilty of "piracy" - the copyright infringing kind

[Jan]

US Navy found guilty of piracy

A court has ordered the US Navy to pay a company $154,400 (R2.61 million) for using its 3D virtual reality software on hundreds of PCs without valid licences, Gizmodo reports.

Bitmanagement Software GmbH first filed the lawsuit in 2016, initially seeking compensation to the tune of nearly $600 million for "willful" copyright infringement by the military branch.

 

[Goosfrabba]

Can anyone else appreciate that it's the Navy of all millary branches to be found guilty of piracy?

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Can anyone else appreciate that it's the Navy of all millary branches to be found guilty of piracy?

 

[PaulMurkin]

 

[daveza]

But the navy’s defence team argued that the licences it had obtained permitted it to make additional copies without further payments.

Mpofu again ?

 

[rvZA]

How can you ever trust them to fight for you, protect you if they cannot even pirate properly!

 

[Mystic Twilight]

Looks like they forgot to bring their lettre de marque.

 

[r00igev@@r]

They should get extenuating circumstances for being drunk.

 

[Yuu]

“Navy Blue(s)” Too soon

Did they successfully shoot themselves in their foot ?

 

[Bryn]

This seems really messed up. How can a court hugely adjust damages downward simply because superior pricing would have theoretically been available for bulk licensing, and especially because x number of machines would have been licensed and x number of users actually used the software?

- The navy didn't license the software and enjoys no special pricing
- The navy didn't restrict access to x number of users or machines

I hope the damages are dramatically increased on appeal because it seems wildly unjust to make the navy pay in court what they originally would have paid anyway.

 

[Supervan II]

Can anyone else appreciate that it's the Navy of all millary branches to be found guilty of piracy?

Arrrr, matey!

 

[BlackStatic]

US Navy found guilty of piracy

A court has ordered the US Navy to pay a company $154,400 (R2.61 million) for using its 3D virtual reality software on hundreds of PCs without valid licences, Gizmodo reports.

Bitmanagement Software GmbH first filed the lawsuit in 2016, initially seeking compensation to the tune of nearly $600 million for "willful" copyright infringement by the military branch.

Whose going to arrest them? lol

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

isnt there somebody working in the Navy whose entire job is to prevent things like this happening?

 

[BlackStatic]

isnt there somebody working in the Navy whose entire job is to prevent things like this happening?

Simmons? Yes, he's a dick though we don't talk to him anymore.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Simmons? Yes, he's a dick though we don't talk to him anymore.

so how long is he serving in the "brig"

 

[Wut]

Not really surprising. We supplied image processing software to the IDF on three groundstations while bidding for a contract. We didn't get the contract so went back to collect our gear. Noticed that there was a second copy of our software running in VM configuration on the machines while we were uninstalling everything with their technicoans. Turns out they had installed it on most of their groundstations. We thought about going the legal route but at the time we were reliant in some of their tech so decided against it.

 

[Gravedigger]

At-least it's not Microsoft...
Microsoft will screw you over dearly with fines. I heard a horror story a few years back, of a local shop that offered typing classes, with MS Word and Excel training/certifications. Some inspector checking the certifications, etc, found that all the MS Office package on the computers (were like 20 or so PCs), had been pirated. Not sure about the OS, though. Owner had to close up shop, sell his assets, as the fines for running this pirated software, cost him dearly. I think it was like R10k-R15k per computer, which they had to pay to MS, or to a MS official distributor in SA.

 

[Arthur]

At-least it's not Microsoft...
Microsoft will screw you over dearly with fines. I heard a horror story a few years back, of a local shop that offered typing classes, with MS Word and Excel training/certifications. Some inspector checking the certifications, etc, found that all the MS Office package on the computers (were like 20 or so PCs), had been pirated. Not sure about the OS, though. Owner had to close up shop, sell his assets, as the fines for running this pirated software, cost him dearly. I think it was like R10k-R15k per computer, which they had to pay to MS, or to a MS official distributor in SA.

Must've been a court that fined them, not Microsoft. Breach of copyright is a criminal offence in most countries, and is taken seriously by the courts if done for commercial purposes such as selling PCs with pirated software, or running a training centre on unlicensed software. A good thing, too, as these seriously undermine the entire industry. How are any other businesses to compete fairly with dealers or training centres that pirate.

 

[6spdmanual]

That payout amount probably doesn’t excite them much.

 

[Gravedigger]

Must've been a court that fined them, not Microsoft. Breach of copyright is a criminal offence in most countries, and is taken seriously by the courts if done for commercial purposes such as selling PCs with pirated software, or running a training centre on unlicensed software. A good thing, too, as these seriously undermine the entire industry. How are any other businesses to compete fairly with dealers or training centres that pirate.

Either way, running pirated software for commercial use, is a big no-no.