Long Island Firm busted for software piracy

FARMINGDALE - Software piracy doesn''t pay, a Long Island company has discovered after an informant tipped off a trade group.

Medical device maker Misonix Inc. paid a $69,697 settlement to the Business Software Alliance after a company audit confirmed employees were running unlicensed software from Adobe and Microsoft.

The 26-member BSA includes some of the nation''s largest software and technology companies, including IBM, Intel, Adobe and Microsoft.

Jenny Blank, director of enforcement for Washington-based BSA, said the Misonix case began with a tip.

"Most often it''s a current or former employee," she said. "It''s not like we''re sitting here with a phone book picking names out."

Typically, the informant contacts BSA via its telephone hotline or Web site.

Blank said, "We don''t contact a company until we have done our own initial investigation. It does nobody any good - our members or companies - if we go off half-cocked."

Misonix was one of five companies in the New York metropolitan area that settled with BSA for a combined $394,535.

The others are Cornerstone Promotion, a New York City firm that paid an $82,500 settlement; Facsimile Communications Industries, a New York City firm that paid $65,000; Pristine Capital Holdings, a White Plains company that paid $80,000, and Theatre Direct International, a New York City firm that paid $97,338.

Blank declined to detail precisely how Misonix was identified and said she didn''t know which Adobe and Microsoft programs were pirated. Microsoft''s Windows operating systems and Office productivity software are business standards. Adobe''s line includes Portable Document Format and Photoshop desktop imaging software.