New York, December 6th, 2011 – ITCA, a global IP protection and compliance company, is pleased to announce that it helped broker a settlement between Geometric Americas, Inc. ("Geometric") and Comstock Industries, Inc. ("Comstock") regarding the unauthorized use of Geometrics’ CAMworks by one of Comstock’s employees.
Under the terms of the agreement, which was facilitated by ITCA and signed on November 11, 2011, Comstock will compensate Geometric for all damages and losses, including the acquisition of new licenses. After total fulfillment of the compensation, Comstock will immediately destroy the unauthorized duplications of Geometrics CAMworks. Comstock has also agreed to implement new IT policies and processes to prevent unlicensed software from entering its network.
From the outset of the dispute, Comstock cooperated fully with both Geometric and ITCA.
“We were completely unaware of the scope of the infringement and believe we reached a fair settlement with Geometric,” said Comstock’s President Richard Comstock Jr. “This case taught us an important lesson about the risks of unlicensed software entering the network in an unintended manner and we’re eager to start implementing stronger IT policies and processes to prevent future pirating.”
“Our company often sees this kind of unintentional infringement,” said Donald Dorsey, Americas Channel Manager of Geometric. “We’re happy to have worked through this dispute with Comstock and ITCA and see this agreement as a step in the right direction for our company.”
As part of the settlement agreement, Comstock also consented to comply with an IT audit by Geometric or ITCA within the next 12 months to verify that all agreed-upon stipulations have been observed.
“Software piracy is a real threat for businesses, yet many executives are unaware of the internal usage or compliance requirements at their very own companies,” said ITCA Founder Chris Luijten. “Comstock – like all too many companies – found themselves in this position not because of a willful violation of the law, but due to their lack of strong IT policies regarding employee software installation. We’re glad to have helped Geometrics recover lost revenue and are optimistic that Comstock’s new focus on IT security will prevent future infringements by the company’s employees.”
