November 7th, 2007
MedTech needs the BSA's help, stat
Attention Business Software Alliance! You need to offer better coverage to the medical technology area, stat.
(Me love Dilbert. Image from Boingboing.)
No, the dermatologist isn’t running a pirated copy of Microsoft Word. We’re talking here of expensive medical imaging software from companies like GE Healthcare and MedWeb.
Agents have been executing search warrants on a Buffalo-area company which claimed $7 million in legitimate sales to medical clinics, but may have just been copying and shipping code without permission.
This is bound to be the tip of a very large iceberg. There are lots of incentives for clinics and hospitals to save money on software for their machines, and there are doubtless many unscrupulous suppliers happy to supply a discount.
In the case at issue it’s possible the buyers were wholly innocent. But that can’t be assumed in all cases. And we’re talking here of programs that are sophisticated enough, with small enough markets, to be worth many thousands of dollars per copy.
So could you drop that kid with the phony game cartridge a moment and come over here. Please?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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