The Business Software Association (BSA) of Australia has restructured its operations, changed its name, and extended its membership to become fully integrated with the BSA globally.

The BSA offers legal assistance to software companies for copyright enforcement and breaches, engages governments regarding copyright and IP policy development, and software licence compliance education and assistance, such as software asset management, for software users.

It was founded in 1989 with the objective of "promoting a safe and legal digital world", and has 27 global and seven Asia Pacific members.

BSA Australia founding director and chairman Jim Macnamara said the restructure will mean its Australian members will now also join BSA globally.

"The big change is that all global BSA members are now participating in the BSA in Australia which substantially strengthens the organisation and expands its representation of the software industry," Macnamara said.

"The BSAA was established at a time when the BSA was not active in the Asia Pacific region which meant it had a separate organisation with its own memberships, budgets and operations.

"It makes sense to integrate the organisation into the BSA regionally and globally, rather than forcing member companies to pay two membership fees and duplicate structure and administration, now that the BSA is active across Asia Pacific."

The BSA in Australia has also changed its name to the Business Software Alliance - Australia Committee, to bring it in line with the BSA globally. The BSA in Australia will continue to operate with local directors, under a local committee, while Jim Macnamara will remain director and spokesperson.

The committee's local information hotline and office in North Ryde will remain unchanged.

BSA members participating in BSA Australia include Adobe, Altium, Apple Computer, Autodesk, Avid, BEA Systems, Bentley Systems, Borland, CA, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Dell Computer, Entrust, and Frontline PCB Solutions.

Other members are McAfee, Microsoft, Minitab, Monotype Imaging, Sybase, Symantec, Synopsys, and Trend Micro.