US Army Caught Pirating Software, Settles For $50 Million

The United States government has agreed to a $50 million settlement over a case regarding pirated software. In 2004, the Army paid the Texas based software company Apptricity $4.5 million to use their software. This allowed the Army to track their soldiers in real time across the globe. According to Apptricity, the software also helped the Army with shipping and tracking supplies world wide.

Apptricity recently discovered their software was being pirated on more than 100 servers and 9,000 devices for which the US Army failed to pay the proper licenses.

‘Field commanders were focused on the mission-critical nature of Apptricity software and the need to protect warfighters and facilitate mission objectives,’ Apptricity’s chief executive officer Tim Garcia said. ‘Our battle-tested integrated logistics software performed so well that it went viral.’

Despite the $50 million settlement, Apptricity claims the amount ‘represents a fraction of the software’s negotiated contract value.’