The Obama administration has agreed to pay $50 million to an IT company after the US Army was caught using the company�™s logistics software beyond contracted parameters.
According to Texas-based Apptricity, the software, which manages troop and supply movements, had been installed on many more machines than had been licensed.
The company blew the whistle on the army by suing the government for �œover-deployment of unlicensed logistics enterprise software”, accusing the US military of willful copyright infringement.
The software is a core part of the logistics system known as the Transportation Coordinators�™ Automated Information for Movements System II (TC-AIMS II), according to Breaking Defense.
The Obama administration has settled with the company recently, agreeing to pay $50 million, about one fourth of what Apptricity had originally asked for to cover unpaid licenses, TorrentFreak reported.
In 2004, Apptricity agreed with the US Army to license the troop-movement software, allowing the government to use it on five servers and 150 standalone devices. But the Army has used the software worldwide despite the deal.
�œThe Army has used Apptricity�™s integrated transportation logistics and asset management software across the Middle East and other theaters of operation. The Army has also used the software to coordinate emergency management initiatives, including efforts following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti,” the company said.
The installation of thousands of unlicensed copies of software was discovered incidentally when the US Army Program Director said during Strategic Capabilities Planning 2009 that thousands of devices had Apptricity software.
Over 9,000 standalone devices and 93 servers were found with the unlicensed software which meant the Army owed Apptricity $224 million based on usual fees of $1.35 million per server and $5,000 per device.
�œThe Government knew or should have known that it was required to obtain a license for copying Apptricity software onto each of the servers and devices,” the company told the court, asking for at least $224,543,420.80 in damages, equal to what it lost in licensing fees.
Apptricity, nevertheless, expects to continue doing business with the US military.
�œNow that this process is behind us, it is envisioned the Apptricity and Army relationship will continue to grow exponentially,” says Tim McHale, an Apptricity senior adviser and retired major-general.
Breaking Defense is asking people to inform them of any other cases of military �œover deploying” intellectual properties they know of.
AN/ISH
Source: Press TV