In a statement of claim filed with the Federal Court on Monday, the two software giants allege a number of Mr Caralis' radio stations infringed copyright by using unlicensed versions of their software.

Mr Caralis operates radio stations in NSW and Queensland and employs popular radio personality John Laws to host a morning show across the network.

At this stage only four of Mr Caralis' stations are being sued for alleged software piracy, although Adobe and Microsoft have also lodged a separate case against 25 of Mr Caralis' other stations.

No statement of claim has been lodged in the second case, however an application was made last week by the companies' lawyers for the discovery of radio station documents.

An email dated December 14, 2005, provided to Fairfax Media by Microsoft and Adobe's lawyers, is expected to be relied upon in the second case as evidence. It shows Super Radio Network's head technician Allan Bone telling a staff member how to use a "crack" that disables the copyright protections Microsoft uses on Windows. It has yet to be lodged with the Federal Court.

"As you know, m*cro$oft has started a validation program which basically will discontinue your windows update and security patches if you did not actually paid for your copy of MS Windows Operating System or if you installed an after market copy that was not paid for [sic]," Mr Bone says in the email. "With this crack, you can once again keep updating your windows and the security patches."

In the first case, Adobe alleges two Dubbo stations, 2DU and Zoo FM, authorised the installation of at least four unlicensed copies of version 1.0 of the Adobe audio editing program "Audition" on their computers in the period from at least June 2008 to May 2012. It also alleges at least three copies of version 1.5 of the same program were also used without a licence.

Adobe alleges the infringements were committed "flagrantly and deliberately" by 2DU, Zoo FM, Mr Caralis and another, "well knowing" of Adobe's rights and "with the intention of appropriating for their own use and benefit the property of [Adobe]...".

Stations 2DU and Zoo FM "deliberately installed infringing copies" of the Adobe programs on computers "to maximise their profits at the expense of" Adobe, the software giant alleged.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is alleging 2DU and Zoo FM also infringed upon their copyright by installing multiple unlicensed versions of the Windows operating system, as well as installing multiple versions of Office. In total, 21 unlicensed copies of Office are alleged to have been installed, while 22 unlicensed versions of Windows are said to have been used by the two stations.

Two other radio stations owned by Mr Caralis in Young, 2LF and Roccy FM, are also alleged to have installed at least four unlicensed copies of Windows.

The companies are seeking to restrain the use of allegedly unlicensed software and are seeking damages or an amount of profits. They also want  the allegedly unlicensed software destroyed.

Clayton Noble, attorney at Microsoft and chair of the Business Software Alliance, said the alliance, Microsoft and Adobe were still investigating this matter and asked for anyone with information "about [alleged] software piracy in the Super Radio Network" to report it at bsa.org.

The Alliance operates a hotline for members of the public to report software piracy, offering rewards of up to $5000 for information about the use of unlicensed software.

"A court order application has been lodged asking the court to demand that other stations within the [Super Radio Network] produce documents about the status of their software use and whether that software is licenced," Mr Noble said in an interview with Fairfax Media's Daily Liberal also contacted 2DU and ZOO FM program director Chris Mathieson for a response. He declined to comment and directed the Daily Liberal to Mr Caralis.

Comment was sought from Mr Caralis' through his personal assistant on Tuesday morning. At the time of publication no comment had been received.

The first case will be heard on April 3 and the second on April 2.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald