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Besides the emotional jolt, a letter can also be a budget buster, even for companies in compliance. One IT director for an architecture firm says his former employer spent almost $10,000 in staff time to document all its Microsoft software licenses after it received a compliance letter, even though they had the required number of licenses.

The BSA contends that accounting for licenses is straightforward. “You’re just adding up the number of software programs you’re using and checking it against how many software licenses you own,” Kruger says. But users believe that even conscientious companies can easily run afoul of overly complex agreements. One “gotcha” comes when companies recycle old computers. For example, a designer who receives a new workstation may pass down her old computer to somebody within the administrative staff, without deleting the CAD software that was on the machine. The software may never be used again, but because it still resides on the hard drive, it may turn up as a violation in a software audit.

Other people become confused by the myriad license types offered by software companies. Some allow registered users to legally install software on both a desktop and notebook computer, while other agreements limit usage to a single computer. Also, IT managers may find themselves constantly working to keep staff members from loading software brought in from the outside. “When you have zillions of computers in a company, it’s hard to make sure nothing sneaks in,” says Peter Theis, IT director at Roger Ferris + Partners in Westport, Connecticut.

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Of course, some noncompliance cases involve the outright disregard of agreements by companies trying to cut costs for expensive software, particularly CAD programs, which cost upwards of $2,000 to $3,000 per seat. Other scofflaws flaunt what they consider to be unfair and restrictive license agreements. For example, some agreements give software vendors the right to enter a business to perform an audit whenever it suspects a violation. “Some of this stuff is sickening,” says one architect in the Northeast.

“When you use the term ‘piracy,’ you’re making an analogy that’s way over the top,” says Bradley Kuhn, executive director of the Free Software Foundation, a Boston-based group that advocates the development of freely distributed “open source” software, such as the popular Linux operating system. He believes current licensing policies and “tip lines” foster distrust among coworkers, and that a new business model built on freely distributed source code is the answer to copyright infringement problems.

Kuhn concedes the handful

of free CAD programs now under development are not yet ready for prime time, but he believes that situation could change if more professionals supported the free software movement. “If consumers took half the money they’re paying for CAD licenses every year and gave it to some free software project, [open source versions] could be developed and people wouldn’t have to pay for licenses anymore,” Kuhn says.