The Business Software Alliance (BSA) today announced that AutoTrader.com paid $400,000 in order to settle claims that it had unlicensed copies of Adobe, Autodesk, Corel and Quest software installed on its computers.

As part of the settlement agreement, AutoTrader agreed to delete all unlicensed copies of software from its computers, acquire any licenses necessary to become compliant and commit to implementing stronger software asset management (SAM) practices.

"AutoTrader.com has grown from 10 employees at our founding 12 years ago to more than 2,000 today," said Bob Hadley of AutoTrader.com. "We believe our employees have the utmost integrity when it comes to these matters and this audit brought to light the importance of having procedures in place to make sure all software purchases and licenses can be accounted for in accordance with Business Software Alliance policies," Hadley added.

"It is important businesses understand the risks associated with using unauthorized software on any computer," said Jodie Kelley, BSA's vice president of anti-piracy and general counsel. "Not only do organizations face possible legal trouble for employing pirated software, there are also tremendous security and economic consequences involved."

The BSA was alerted to the unlicensed software use at AutoTrader by a confidential report made on its website www.nopiracy.org.