BSAA chairman Jim Macnamara said Melbourne based company Creative Factory found itself in trouble after a tip-off from an ex-employee.
"I can certainly say that we did get onto this case through a lead from a former senior employee," Macnamara said.
The BSAA claims graphics designers are topping the list of illegal software users, according to a release issued yesterday.
Macnamara told ZDNet Australia says that it's often IT managers who "dob in" their own workplace on their way out of a company.
"IT managers are often recommending purchases of software, and management is saying no and just getting them to copy it over... when they leave the company they report the use," he said.
The BSAA has actively targeted small companies like the Creative Factory, who have around 15 employees. They've made no secret of their willingness to target small organisations, with the announcement last year of their "no business too small" campaign.
The association also offers rewards of up to AU$5,000 to informants who provide information to them about illegal product use by a company that leads to a settlement.
Once the association has received a tip, they "write to an organisation, and we point out that we have information that suggests they may be operating illegally," Macnamara said.
"They can either tell us to go to hell... [but] what happens in most cases... [is] they look to settle out of court," he said.
Creative Factory were unable to comment at the time of writing.
Microsoft and other members of the BSAA are well within their rights in pursuing businesses that flaunt licence agreements.
However, in my research of business use of software, it has become apparent that the costs to business of complying with licences are increasing, and yet, most businesses can never be totally above-board legally in this area. Employees bring in and install software for which they don't have permission; new workstations are installed with duplicates of software from other workstation etc etc.
For many firms, managing this issue has become a real money sink. If you don't manage it well, however, someone, somewhere (perhaps a disgruntled ex-employee) will alert the BSAA, and then the fun begins. The embarrassment and loss of public face to most businesses caught out this way, often ruins them finacially.
Overall, the risks to business of using such proprietary software are great, and are never factored into normal TCO calculations, which to me is simply amazing.
Increasingly, I recommend to clients that if they are in a position to do so, they should be using Open Source Software whereever possible, to minimise this risk, and reduce their licence-management hassles and costs.
It makes better business sense.