Autodesk Surpasses $45 Million in Software Piracy Settlements in North America

February 26 – Autodesk, Inc. announced the results of its piracy prevention efforts for the fiscal year 2001 which ended January 31, 2001. Autodesk's Piracy Prevention Department has once again reached record-breaking numbers with more than $5.6 million recovered from copyright infringers of its design software in North America. This brings the total amount to more than $45.9 million in North America since the department formed in 1989. Florida, California, Missouri, Arizona, and Texas lead the United States as the top five states for Autodesk recoveries. Missouri and Arizona made the top five list this year, replacing Illinois and Michigan. Florida, California, and Texas continue to rank highest among recoveries for Autodesk due to the large number of architectural, civil, and mechanical engineering firms that populate these states and use Autodesk software.

In fiscal year 2002, Autodesk's goals for combating software piracy will remain consistent with previous years. The company plans to further increase its educational efforts by providing more tools for people to manage their software assets. With the growth of Internet auction and piracy sites, Autodesk will increase its efforts to pursue piracy in these areas. The company will also forge closer ties with law enforcement in the pursuit of criminal copyright infringement. Finally, Autodesk will continue to aggressively pursue corporate software piracy.

Autodesk is a founding member of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the voice of the world's leading software developers before governments and with consumers in the international marketplace. BSA educates computer users on software copyrights, advocates public policy that fosters innovation and expands trade opportunities, and fights software piracy. Other BSA worldwide members include Adobe, Apple Computer, Bentley Systems, Macromedia, Microsoft, Network Associates, and Symantec.

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