Settlement Announced In Copyright Infringement Case

May 16, 1996 (Washington, D.C.) - A Florida-based private junior college,
International Fine Arts College Inc., paid $135,000 to settle a lawsuit
alleging copyright infringement filed against it on March 1 in Miami. The
complaint alleged that International Fine Arts College had unlawfully
duplicated computer programs published by Adobe Systems Inc., Novell Inc.
and Quark Inc. The court issued an ex-parte temporary restraining order
("TRO") one week later, which allowed the plaintiffs' representatives,
accompanied by deputy United States marshals, to audit the computer
programs installed on the defendant's computers. The lawsuit was based on
an investigation conducted by the Software Publishers Association (SPA)
following a call to SPA's anti-piracy hotline, (800) 388-7478.

Edward Porter, president of the college, stated he had no knowledge of the
practices alleged and has issued a firm policy warning the college's
employees about the importance of complying with copyright laws. "The
college is today in complete and full compliance with all copyright laws,"
Porter said.

U.S. law prohibits the unauthorized duplication of computer programs. In
announcing the settlement, Sandra Sellers, SPA vice president of
intellectual property enforcement and education, said, "U.S. companies
continue to duplicate and use software illegally. Indeed, since January
1996, SPA has settled four matters for over $100,000 each, including SPA's
largest single settlement of $500,000. This lawsuit and the resulting
settlement should send a message to other organizations that software
piracy will not be tolerated by SPA on behalf of its 1,200 members. We
hope these actions will convince other organizations to take advantage of
the many resources offered by SPA, namely SPAudit, SPA's self-audit kit,
the Certified Software Manager (CSM) course and our newest corporate
educational video, `It Could Have Been So Easy.'"

SPA is the leading trade association of the desktop software industry,
representing the leading publishers as well as many start-up firms in the
business, consumer and education markets. Its 1,200 members account for 90
percent of the sales of the U.S. packaged software industry. SPA is an
international organization with offices both in the United States and
Europe.

SPA press releases are available on SPA's Web site at http://www.spa.org or
through Fax-on-Demand at (800) 637-6823.

Software Publishers Association
1730 M St, Northwest, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-452-1600,  Fax: 202-223-8756
 
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