Scottish engineering company Norson Services has been fined £12,000 for using unlicensed software following an anonymous tip-off.
The company is the latest in a string of high-profile names, including House of Fraser and WHSmith Online, to be busted by software piracy policing body Business Software Alliance (BSA).
An individual reported the company to the BSA"s anti-piracy hotline and an audit found Norson Services to be using unlicensed copies of Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft software.
Bill Bell, managing director of Norson Services said the company was lax about updating it"s software licenses and said "Rapid growth and a change in corporate structure meant that our licensing arrangements weren"t given the priority they deserved".
"Norson Services have now worked with the BSA to rectify the situation, and we can now say that we"re fully licensed and have set up good software asset management practices. We shall remain vigilant and will be conducting regular checks on our software to avoid a replay of this situation," Bell said.
The tip-off hotline is part of BSA"s aggressive campaign to tackle the use of pirated and unlicensed software by businesses, which it claims costs suppliers £1.7bn a year in western Europe alone. Callers can receive up to £10,000, or 10 per cent of any fine.