In A Word, Ouch

The developer has snagged a $3.2 million settlement against Papa B Enterprise for selling counterfeit software, the third such business against which Symantec has won a judgment in the past seven months. In addition, the company's owner is personally liable to the tune of $25,000. And there is the requisite permanent injunction prohibiting Papa B from selling unauthorized software in the future and directing the company to help with its investigation of other companies. The ruling came down in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.

For those of us sick of receiving clearly illegal solicitations to buy Norton Antivirus, pcAnywhere and so on, this seems like a logical outlook. To my inbox at least, Symantec looks to be just about the most highly pirated software brand these days, outside of good ole Microsoft. To date, the amount of money involved in Symantec's judgments exceeds $13 million.

I know that most of CRN's readers are upstanding citizens who would never find themselves in this position, but to me this is another cautionary tale against the use of the grey market. Consider that in each of these cases, the owner of the company was held personally liable. Can you say, ouch?