The NSW Police Force could be hit with a second lawsuit for allegedly using software it didn’t have a licence for.
NSW Police is currently facing allegations of widespread piracy in a damages claim worth at least $10 million for unauthorised software use.
Now the company suing NSW police, multi-national firm Micro Focus, is trying to ascertain whether the software the police used to replace the allegedly unauthorised software with was pirated.
Micro Focus Australian managing director Bruce Craig said NSW police have a licence to allow 6500 users of computer program ViewNow but they had extended way beyond that.
“It would appear to us that the police have de-installed all our software and in their rush to do that it would appear they have instructed another (government) agency to replace (ViewNow) with another product,” Mr Craig told AAP on Wednesday.
“It would appear that other product was another one of our products.
“Was that second product used by other agencies?
“Was it used by police?
“If those answers are unsatisfactory we will proceed with a second case.”
NSW Police has rejected claims it illegally used the Micro Focus software saying it had a site licence that allowed it to use the database.
The police force says it paid for a licence that entitled any of the state’s 16,000 officers to use the program, even after a maintenance contract expired in 2003.
“NSW Police has made reasonable offers to settle but these offers have been rejected,” NSW police said in a statement on Tuesday.
In relation to the first claim, Mr Craig said Micro Focus was waiting on a report by KPMG’s forensic partner that would tell them how many licences of ViewNow the police had installed within their network.
“It’s bizarre the police are unable to tell us,” Mr Craig said.
“If the police argue that they have a valid licence, why would they withhold information?”
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