A Baltimore County engineering firm found to be using unlicensed copies of software has agreed to contribute $135,000 to the Business Software Alliance, a lobbying group whose members include Microsoft Corp. and other software makers.

The alliance said it will use the donation for its campaign to raise awareness of software piracy.

Robert Kruger, president of the Washington-based Business Software Alliance, said the organization conducted an audit of software used by Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson.

The alliance found that the Sparks company was using more copies of certain engineering and business software programs than the company could document that it had purchased.

Rick Smulovitz, chief financial officer at Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, said management was unaware that the company was using unlicensed software programs, and has initiated several programs to ensure that pirated software is not used in the fu- ture.

The unlicensed programs being used included products made by Corel Corp., Autodesk Inc. and Bentley Systems Inc., the alliance said.

Kruger said the company requested the audit after being contacted by the alliance that it had been alerted that the company might be using pirated programs.

That tip came over the group's anti-piracy hot-line, 1-888-NO PIRACY.

"They were very forthcoming and cooperative once we contacted them about the problem," the alliance president said.

Kruger said most piracy tips that the BSA investigates involve small- to medium-size companies that are unaware unlicensed software programs have been copied or installed on their computers.

Under the federal copyright act, companies or individuals who knowingly use pirated software programs can face a penalty of up to $100,000 for each unlicensed program, Kruger said.

Pub Date: 3/17/99