Legal Protection for Developers: Compensation for Irregular Licenses

Our firm recently secured another important court victory on behalf of a software developer client in a lawsuit against a company that was using pirated copies of its computer program.

Before resorting to litigation, the company had been formally invited to participate in a collaborative audit aimed at verifying license compliance. However, the invitation was declined. Despite this, our client’s monitoring systems continued to indicate that the software was being used without authorization within the company’s infrastructure.

Given these findings, our firm filed a preliminary evidentiary action to inspect the company’s computers. The court-appointed expert conducted the inspection and confirmed the installation and use of several pirated licenses on the company’s systems.

With this strong and objective evidence in hand, we then initiated a claim for damages. The court ruled in our favor and ordered the defendant company to pay compensation equivalent to five times the market value of each pirated copy identified.

It is important to note that, under Brazilian law, there is no fixed, minimum, or maximum amount of compensation for copyright infringement cases. Judges are free to assess the circumstances of each case and set the amount based on various factors, such as the severity of the infringement, the extent of unauthorized use, and any indication of bad faith.

This decision underscores the effectiveness of License Compliance actions when carried out with strategy, solid technical evidence, and proper legal support. Our firm is proud to be at the forefront of protecting software developers’ rights.