01.13.2012
The IT Compliance Association (ITCA) has struck a significant blow to copyright injustice in the dental software field. On behalf of their Belgium based client and in cooperation with a licensed enduser, they tracked down an individual unlicensed user of their client’s software and brought him to justice, paving the way forward for IT compliance everywhere. ITCA mediated between their client, Materialise Dental, and Bio-scaffold International Pte (BSI) (the culprit) over BSI’s unlicensed use of the 'Simplant Pro' software on one of its company computers.
Working together, the 3 organizations forced the resignation of one senior employee at BSI and prosecution for the unlicensed individual is pending.
Doctor N., a dentist in the implant research field, claimed to have acquired the Simplant software of Belgium-based software house, Materialise Dental, on a free CD being given out at an 'implantology' training course he attended several years earlier. He further claimed that sometime later, he used the software on the CD to analyze some research data, unaware that the software contained on the CD was ‘cracked’. Nevertheless, Dr. N. was not licensed to use this software, and what’s even more unfortunate is that he installed the software and conducted this work on a computer belonging to BSI. BSI, based in Singapore, had no knowledge of Dr. N.'s illegal behavior.
Materialise Dental was able to refute the claims of Dr. N. because of the embedded tracking software found on his cracked version. This technology was less than a year old, so the version in Dr. N.’s possession could only have been acquired within the year. It became clear that he was using Simplant without authorization and for his own benefit.
BSI, as a model of corporate responsibility, has an IT policy in place that strictly adheres to best practice guidelines. BSI is committed to ethical and responsible corporate behavior. Its first reaction on being contacted by ITCA on behalf of Materialise Dental was to initiate an investigation to uncover the truth of the matter. Dr. Margam Chandrasekaran of BSI said “we want to ensure that there is no infringement of copyrights as we ourselves place maximum importance for IP protection”.
With ITCA’s assistance and information gathered throughout its investigation, BSI questioned Dr. N. about his actions. He at first obfuscated his use of the cracked software, but when finally confronted with the facts, resigned from BSI rather than be unceremoniously fired. He is now in the midst of being prosecuted by ITCA with information provided reciprocally by BSI.
ITCA works tirelessly to counter the business threat of software piracy. Most chief executives are ignorant of the demands made by their own corporate IT policies and the compliance requirements of licensed software. Most companies, unlike BSI in this case, find themselves in trouble with the law not because of deliberate acts of piracy, but rather due to apathetic implementation of fundamentally sound IT policies. For more information and guidance to protect your business, visit our website www.ITCA.com.
