Software Company Sues US Navy<\/h2>\n
The lawsuit was filed by the German company\u00a0Bitmanagement<\/a>. It\u2019s not a typical piracy case in the sense that software was downloaded from shady sources. However, the end result is the same.<\/p>\n It all started in 2011 when the US Navy began testing the company\u2019s 3D virtual reality application \u2018BS Contact Geo\u2019. After some testing, the Navy installed the software across its network, assuming that it had permission to do so.<\/p>\n This turned out to be a crucial misunderstanding. Bitmanagement said it never authorized this type of use and when it heard that the Navy had installed the software on 558,466 computers, the company took legal action.<\/p>\n In a complaint filed at the United States Court of Federal Claims in 2016, the German company accused the US Navy of mass copyright infringement and demanded damages totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n The Court initially dismissed the complaint but Bitmanagement appealed. Earlier this year, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sided with the German software company, concluding that the US Government is\u00a0indeed liable<\/a>.<\/p>\n This meant that the matter was reverted back to the Federal Claims court, to determine the appropriate damages amount. Over the past weeks, the US submitted several sealed filings hoping to keep the damages under control, but Bitmanagement was having none of it.<\/p>\n Unlike the Government\u2019s arguments, BitManagement\u2019s position is not kept out of the public eye. The company openly argues that it has the right to $155,400,000 in copyright infringement damages.<\/p>\n This figure is based on more than 600,000 copies of the software that were installed. This is multiplied by the negotiated $370 license per install, minus a 30% discount.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence at trial showed that the Navy made at least 600,000 copies of BS Contact Geo that were not monitored by Flexera. For these 600,000 copies, unrebutted expert testimony at trial demonstrated that the parties would have agreed in a hypothetical negotiation to a final negotiated price of $259 per copy,\u201d Bitmanagement writes.<\/p>\n The Government\u2019s filings are not public but Bitmanagement\u2019s brief suggests that the Government tried to have the damages amount lowered. Among other things, it suggested that a bigger discount should have been possible.<\/p>\n The software company disputes that. While it did consider bigger discounts for other software, this never was an option for \u201cBS Contact Geo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[T]he Navy would not have sought, nor would Bitmanagement have accepted, a volume discount greater than 70%. Although years before the hypothetical negotiation Bitmanagement considered selling its software at more discounted prices to the Navy, those preliminary discussions and offers involved less-advanced software than BS Contact Geo\u201d<\/p>\n Also, by the time the licensing discussions would have taken place, the Government indicated that the software was hard to replace, which boosted the software company\u2019s negotiation position.<\/p>\n [B]y the time of the hypothetical negotiation in July 2013, the Navy had determined that BS Contact Geo was a \u2018critical component\u2019 to the Navy for which there were no viable alternatives. According to the Navy, \u201cBS Contact Geo was the only software that could fulfill its needs.\u201d<\/p>\n It is now up to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to determine if the Government must pay $155 million in damages or if a reduction is warranted. It seems unavoidable that some compensation has to be paid, however.<\/p>\n Interestingly this is not the first time that the U.S. military has been \u201ccaught\u201d pirating software. A few years ago it was accused of operating unlicensed logistics software, a case the Obama administration eventually settled for\u00a0$50 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n A copy of Bitmanagement\u2019s brief regarding the damages calculation is available\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0(pdf).<\/em><\/p>\n Source: \u00a0Bitmanagement Wins Appeal<\/h2>\n
$155,400,000 in Piracy Damages<\/h2>\n
![\"damages](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/damages-calc.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMassive Discount Wasn\u2019t an Option<\/h2>\n
![\"TorrentFreak\"](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/torrentfreak.png\")
<\/a> TorrentFreak.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"