The Business Software Association of Australia (BSAA, founded in 1989
) was an industry association in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
of commercial software producers and corporations that advocated software copyright compliancy and assisted the litigation of copyright infringement through support and funding. The BSAA typically retained the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques (a particularly notable Australian law firm
[Law500]) to investigate and litigate its interests.
The association published a range of auditing tools and provided information on software copyright and license compliancy.
The association had been particularly more active in the defense of copyright infringement since January 2006 when Australian Copyright law was changed to make the running of an enterprise with infringing software a criminal offense.
As of January 2007, the BSAA is now the Australian branch of the
Business Software Alliance
The Software Alliance, also known as BSA, is a trade group of business software companies established in 1998. Its principal activity is trying to stop copyright infringement of software produced by its members. It is a member of the International ...
.
Members
The full members of the BSAA were
Adobe Systems
Adobe Inc. ( ), formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American software, computer software company based in San Jose, California. It offers a wide range of programs from web design tools, photo manipulation and vector creation, through to ...
,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
,
Computer Associates
CA Technologies, Inc., formerly Computer Associates International, Inc., and CA, Inc., was an American multinational enterprise software developer and publisher that existed from 1976 to 2018. CA grew to rank as one of the largest independent ...
,
Symantec Symantec may refer to:
* Gen Digital, an American consumer software company formerly known as Symantec
* Symantec Security, a brand of enterprise security software purchased by Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, ...
,
Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...
and
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...
.
Criticisms
Like most industry associations that support litigation of copyright matters, the BSAA was occasionally mentioned as being draconian, although it is considerably more measured in action it takes than its counterparts in the UK and United States.
Associations such as the BSAA are also sometimes considered as an example of a 'good hand, bad hand' tactic as its members can actively pursue their interests through the association and draw criticism to the association rather than themselves as members.
References
Trade associations based in Australia
Technology trade associations
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