About UGS Corp.

UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management ("PLM") software and services with more than 3.3 million licensed seats and 42,000 clients worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, UGS promotes openness and standardization and works collaboratively with its clients in creating enterprise solutions enabling them to transform their process of innovation and thus begin to capture the value of PLM. For more information on UGS products and services, visit www.ugs.com.

How does UGS license its software?

Companies and individuals that acquire UGS software become licensees not owners of the software and obtain only those rights specifically granted in the associated UGS license agreement. You must have a valid license for each item of software installed. UGS offers a variety of software licenses, such as "node locked," "floating" and "named user." Installation and use of node locked software is restricted to a customer specified workstation. Installation and use of floating software is controlled by a customer specified license server with access limited to the number of concurrent users licensed. UGS software provided on a named user basis is restricted to the individual named user identified by the license management system. Software license fees are based on the type of license and the number of users licensed. UGS only authorizes customers to copy the software as reasonably required in conjunction with their licensed use of the software and for backup purposes. The licenses granted are nontransferable and may not otherwise be assigned without UGS' express written consent.

What is the law regarding software piracy?

Software development involves the creative ideas and talents of programmers, writers and graphic artists. Similar to most creative works, such as books, movies and films, computer software is copyrighted material protected by the laws of the United States and international treaties. The copyright laws provide the copyright owner the exclusive right to make copies of, distribute, license and sell its software and the exclusive right to develop new software based on incorporating the original copyrighted work.

The software owner grants to others the right to use the software, typically under the terms of a license agreement. If you copy, distribute or install the software in ways that the license does not specifically authorize, whether you are sharing disks with coworkers and friends or participating in widespread duplication, you are violating federal copyright law. If you assist another person make unauthorized copies, you are also liable under the copyright law.

Making or downloading unauthorized copies of software is breaking the U.S. copyright law, no matter how many copies are involved. You are committing a copyright infringement if you are duplicating software to sell, making multiple copies for use by different users within your organization or business, giving an unauthorized copy to another individual or lending a copy to a friend.  It still infringement even if you don make any money doing it.

What are the penalties for pirating software?

Software piracy is stealing. If you or your company were caught copying software, you could be held liable under both civil and criminal law. If the copyright owner decides to sue you or your company, the owner can seek to stop you from using its software immediately and can also request money damages. The copyright owner may then choose between actual damages, which includes the amount it has lost because of your infringement (as well as any of your profits attributable to the infringement), and statutory damages, which can be as much as $150,000 for each program copied. In addition, the government can criminally prosecute you for copyright infringement. If convicted, you can be fined up to $250,000, or sentenced to jail for up to five years, or both.

In addition to legal consequences, users of pirated or counterfeit software could experience:

• Exposure to software viruses, corrupt disks or defective software
• Inadequate or no documentation
• No warranties
• Lack of technical product support available to licensed users
• Ineligibility for software upgrades offered to properly licensed users

Companies, both large and small, can be held liable for their employees' actions. If an employee is installing unauthorized software copies on company computers or acquiring illegal software through the Internet, the company can be held accountable for copyright infringement even if the company's management was unaware of the employees' actions.

What can you do to prevent piracy?

For more information about UGS' piracy prevention program, please contact us at piracy@ugs.com or log on at www.ugs.com/piracy.shtml.