the answer in simple terms for the OP is yes. Under US Law, that is considered a felony. The company not only didn't pay to have the software registered, they reverse engineered it to make it functional just so they could continue their business activities (and still not pay the software vendor). If they tried that with MS Windows, they would have been sued by Microsoft by now.
Now, I am a proponent of open source myself, and I also believe that anyone who writes software should be compensated (even if by donations). The NVDA screen reader project is an example of such a case. So is the Vinux project. I donate as much as my budget affords to both and I am not disappointed with either one.
Now, I don't have a lot of problems with closed source software manufacturers either. I do have a problem with some of their business practices though. Still, if the software is reasonably coded and works for my accessibility needs (like peach tree accounting software for windows) than its worth the money. Still, for a company that makes a specific software package that disables itself (and thus causes a company depending on that package to become non-viable) is just not right. Instead of that, I would suggest some kind of subscription based system where the company has the basic fully functional package and they pay a fee for upgrades and additional features. There are some out here that do this and do quite well (and offer a good product).
Now back to the original point: theft is theft and reverse engineering software for the purposes of not paying to make it fully operational is definitely a violation of the law. I haven ''t checked into it lately, but I think the minimum amount is somewhere around $2500.
My suggestion is that the company you work for get hold of the vendor and offer some kind of settlement in leu of being sued or prosecuted for computer crimes and possibly even copyright violations (this can add up to the tens of millions in a hurry).
Just my two cents worth (and no, I am not a lawyer, just an informed reader).
-eric
On Jul 9, 2013, at 7:06 PM, Stephen wrote:
> Over 10k I think is a felony... Or is it 5?
>
> On Jul 9, 2013 4:25 PM, "Gilbert T. Gutierrez, Jr." <mailing-lists@phoenixinternet.net> wrote:
> Would that not be called Pirating? I believe a value of $45k (> $1k) would be equivalent to a felony.
>
> Gilbert
>
> On 7/9/2013 4:11 PM, G Gambill wrote:
>> What do you call it (technical name) when a company installs $45,000 worth of evaluation software (with a dysfunctional security program to restrict functionality and a termination routine that renders the program totally non-functional after a set date.) on their computer and reverse engineers the software and removes the the evaluation restrictions, without paying for it?
>> Anyone know if this would this be considered a felony?
>> TIA
>> George
>>
>> --
>> Success builds confidence. Failure builds knowledge.
>>
>>
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