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Adobe, Autodesk sue retailer Forever 21 for using pirated software like Photoshop

Popular fast fashion retailer Forever 21 has been sued by Adobe, Autodesk and Corel over their alleged use of pirated software including Photoshop.

Adobe filed suit claiming that they found 63 instances of copyright infringement for software such as Photoshop, Acrobat and Illustrator and Autodesk and Corel found instances of pirated copies of Autodesk, WinZip and PaintShopPro.



The company claims to have registration numbers and dates for each instance of piracy, which it claims is "willful, intentional, and malicious copyright infringement." The companies have asked the court for an injunction and damages to cover lost revenue, court costs, and additional damages for willful infringment.

Forever 21 had revenue of $4 billion last year so it is unclear why employees were using pirated software on their systems.

Source:
Adobe

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Jan 2015 23:15

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• 12 comments

• kanaske

  they just happened to walk into the stores and find the software? me thinks we do not have the whole story.
  

  30.1.2015 07:56 #1

• bhetrick

  Originally posted by kanaske: they just happened to walk into the stores and find the software? me thinks we do not have the whole story. Maybe trying to update the pirated software which notified the developers?
  
  Don't know if that's it or not. I'm just throwing that out there.
  

  30.1.2015 09:58 #2

• SProdigy

  Quote: Autodesk and Corel found instances of pirated copies of Autodesk, WinZip and PaintShopPro. Why would someone pirate WinZip, when you can get 7zip or just ignore Winrar's nag screens? lol

  30.1.2015 11:25 #3

• audvare

  Originally posted by kanaske: they just happened to walk into the stores and find the software? me thinks we do not have the whole story. Why would they have the software at the stores?
  
  I am pretty certain they did a physical license audit at corporate offices, which is usually agreed upon buying a license for software in volume. Microsoft does the same thing.

  30.1.2015 14:04 #4

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by audvare: Originally posted by kanaske: they just happened to walk into the stores and find the software? me thinks we do not have the whole story. Why would they have the software at the stores?
  
  I am pretty certain they did a physical license audit at corporate offices, which is usually agreed upon buying a license for software in volume. Microsoft does the same thing. Absolutely.. These programs can and do phone home but companies get audited. It is possible that it was discovered by an audit or maybe even reported by an employee or ex-employee..
  

  AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.67Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 256GB OCZ Vertex 4, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.
  
  http://www.facebook.com/BlueLightningTechnicalServices

  30.1.2015 17:59 #5

• hallway

  Revenue of $4 billion doesn't mean anything. They may have that much or more in losses.

  1.2.2015 05:52 #6

• gbswales

  If employees have admin access to computers then it will likely be employees who the company does not consider need high priced adobe software and who have downloaded pirated copies instead.
  
  Personally I wont use Adobe products because they cost about 20 times what they are worth which is why they are frantic to push everyone to the cloud offerings

  1.2.2015 08:55 #7

• MagengarZ

  Somehow, software companies have ways of knowing if a
  software was officially purchased Or pirated.
  I see the following happen all the time: users at torrent
  sites downloading pirated software- and the first thing
  they do is install it and try to get updates and upgrades
  to newer versions of the software.
  The computer should be physically disconnected from
  the internet before installing it.
  
  Upon installation the software phones home and it gets
  checked to see if the registration key is authentic.
  If the registration key is Cracked it becomes invalid
  and it gets Blacklisted so that no one else can use that
  same key. And so, that screws up many other users who
  have downloaded that same software from the same
  pirating source.
  (Hence you'll see so many users commenting that the
  crack or supplied registration key "doesn't work")
  
  Lesson #1: if you're gonna use Pirated software,
  DON'T be an idiot and expect to get free upgrade versions
  for it online.
  You're better off getting your "updates" by downloading
  newer cracked versions from the same source.
  Or- just simply Buy the software!
  
  If you Can't afford the software, seek an alternative
  software that is cheaper and does the same tasks and
  allows you to save/export your projects.
  I've used pirated software and I was so happy with the
  production results that I later bought the software,
  because I wanted to keep my work consistent with a
  reliable tried-n-true software product.
  
  Again, when a user uses pirated software it does not
  mean the user is also entitled to free updates and upgrades.
  You can't always Have that cake AND eat it too! lol
  
  Oh well, whatever. Don't be a dumb pirate.
  I'm just saying use Common Sense.

  1.2.2015 15:33 #8

• hearme0

  Originally posted by kanaske: they just happened to walk into the stores and find the software? me thinks we do not have the whole story. Me thinks you not so smarty smarty with that comment.
  
  Clearly there's more to the story but the absolute MOST COMMON reason for getting caught is simply "whistleblowers" which are usually pissed off former employees.
  
  I'm a network engineer and I could have busted many companies in my time.

  2.2.2015 00:23 #9

• pmshah

  I remember something like this happening in New Delhi, India some 15 years ago. Digital printing was becoming popular and to compete only on price point almost all the photo labs were using pirated copies of Photoshop. Adobe officials raided all the infringing labs. The lab owners were given the option of buying one copy on the spot AND to buy same number of additional copies as were found infringing within 6 months to avoid jail term and prosecution.
  
  If memory serves me right I have even read about a whole lot of pirated copies of Dos 5 at a major multinational in Eindhoven, Holland.
  
  My daughter used to work in the admin group at UBS, New York. Even her Sun workstation did not have a CD/DVD drive nor any working USB ports. She couldn't even access her personal Gmail account from the workplace. Now that is what you call security.

  2.2.2015 22:40 #10

• ajsmsg78

  OMG, we could have made 124 million dollars but we only made 123 million so let's sue anybody we can. Piracy will never go away so they will have to learn how to deal with it. If these companies were really hurting because of piracy they would have filed for Chapter Eleven years ago. Let's be real for a minute here.
  

  5.2.2015 02:12 #11

• bhetrick

  Originally posted by ajsmsg78: OMG, we could have made 124 million dollars but we only made 123 million so let's sue anybody we can. Piracy will never go away so they will have to learn how to deal with it. If these companies were really hurting because of piracy they would have filed for Chapter Eleven years ago. Let's be real for a minute here. So if some guys come over a bit later to steal your car and burn down your house, you'll be able to just deal with it, right? Screw the law, right?
  

  5.2.2015 09:24 #12