Has the Business Software Alliance breached the Bribery Act?

26/January/2012

An anti-piracy body has become embroiled in a row over the Bribery Act.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA), a non-profit trade association, has been accused of breaching the Bribery Act through its 'reward' programme for people who pass on information about software piracy.

The BSA has dismissed the claims.

According to an article on Channelweb.co.uk, the association offers rewards of up to £10,000 in exchange for information that leads to the discovery of pirated software products or licence misuse

The Bribery Act, which was introduced in July last year, makes it a criminal offence for an individual to give or receive a bribe. It is also a corporate offence if a business is found to have failed to prevent bribery.

An anonymous source contacted ChannelWeb claiming the whistleblowing scheme could mean the BSA is falling foul of the legislation

However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said it is difficult to see how such a scheme – which rewards people in exchange for information on criminal acts – could be constituted as an offence.

In a statement to the website, the CPS said that in order for someone to be prosecuted for Bribery Act offences, a financial reward must be offered to induce a person to "perform improperly a relevant function or activity" or be given to someone in response for an "improper performance of such a function or activity".

"In a case where there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of a conviction, we would still have to consider whether it was in the public interest to prosecute someone," it stated.

Julian Swan, director of compliance marketing for EMEA at the BSA, defended the body and told ChannelWeb: "We carefully vet all our leads before sending any legal letters regarding illegal software use, because our programmes are designed to elicit and reward reports of illegal conduct only, and not false reports filed with malicious intent.

"We are confident there is no breach of the legislation."

See our dedicated Bribery Act website for further guidance on the legislation.