by Ian Fraser May 12th, 2014

Royal Bank of Scotland is, once again, discovering that it is unable to operate above the law.

On Friday, a U.S. judge ordered the Edinburgh-based bank to stop using a software program that underpins its trade finance division, after finding the bank had been infringing the system’s copyright for six years.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest imposed a permanent injunction on RBS, requiring it to completely stop using the BankTrade software within a year, and not to use the software to process any new transactions from July.

In last Friday’s ruling, Judge Forrest said the bank’s ABN Amro NV  arm (part of the Dutch bank that RBS acquired in October 2007) had committed “six years of uninterrupted infringement”. A hearing over damages is due to take place on June 5. Read more