US government to pay $50m after pirating 9,000 copies of software

The US government has agreed to pay $50 million (£30.6 million) after pirating 9,000 copies of military software.

The logistics software, developed by Apptricity, was used by the military during its deployment in the Middle East, as well as during rescue efforts following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

The government had purchased several licences at the time from Apptricity, but was later found to have installed the software using 100 server and 9,000 device licences, which were unpaid for.

“Field commanders were focused on the mission-critical nature of Apptricity software and the need to protect warfighters and facilitate mission objectives,” said Tim Garcia, CEO of Apptricity, in a statement.

“Our battle-tested integrated logistics software performed so well that it went viral.”

Apptricity originally sought damages of $224.5 million (£137 million), equal to the combined unpaid licence costs, but later settled for a figure of $50 million via the Alternative Dispute Resolution process. The figure includes the US army’s future use of the software.

Apptricity CFO Randy Lieberman commented: "Apptricity is now incredibly energised to use the settlement resolution as a catalyst for aggressive investment in our team, our solutions and our untapped market opportunities.”

Image of military men courtesy of Shutterstock.co.uk