

A small software company has accused major label Sony/BMG of software piracy, in a reversal of the normal orientation of piracy cases between major labels and the rest of the world.

PointDev, which makes Windows administration software, claims that a raid on Sony/BMG servers revealed that as much as 47 percent of the software used by the company can be considered to have been pirated under French law, according to Zeropaid's Google translation of the initial report:

We are not interested in an amicable settlement. It is not just aquestion of money but more importantly in principle. The rate of software piracy in the companyis very high. According to the Business Software Alliance, aassociation of the major publishers in the market, 47 percent of programs usedin the company would be [unlawful] in France...

The Business Software Alliance raid that uncovered the programs on Sony/BMG's servers was apparently triggered by Sony IT worker's request for assistance with a program called Ideal Migration. When the PointDev tech support person tried to help, he or she seems to have discovered that the key provided by Sony/BMG was pirated.

Sony/BMG apparently asked La Provence not to pick up on the story, which, of course, it did. The case will surely provide no small amount of glee to file sharing activists and RIAA boycotters as it unfolds.

01net (in French); via Zeropaid and Techdirt