The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) can prosecute educational establishments that use improperly licensed software.

The pressure group, which lobbies on behalf of the proprietary software industry, can take headteachers, schools and local education authorities to court if they are found to have any unauthorised software.

The government has given them the tools to support this initiative with the Copyright and Trade Marks (Offences and Enforcement) Act 2002, which increased the penalties for certain copyright offences from two years to 10 years and strengthened search warrant provisions.

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