Indore, Madhya Pradesh-based Pratibha Syntex, which supplies to some of the top American companies including Walmart will have to pay a penalty of $1,00,000. As per the settlement reached, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and has been approved by a judge, the textile company has agreed to pay the fine within 30 days.

"Pratibha Syntex engaged in illegal business practices that placed California garment companies at a disadvantage, while hurting American software companies' ability to develop new and innovative products," California Attorney General Kamala Harris said, adding, "Businesses around the globe should be on notice that the state of California will hold them accountable for stealing intellectual property to unfairly undercut their competition.

" In 2013, Harris had dragged Pratibha Syntex to court for not paying licensing fees for software it used for its business, including products manufactured by Adobe, Microsoft, and others, giving the company a significant cost advantage in the low-margin business of apparel manufacturing, shipment and sales.

Now the decision prohibits Pratibha Syntex from using unlicensed software or reproducing any part of a copyrighted software program without the permission of the legitimate copyright holder, and further require the company to perform four complete audits of the software on their computers and fix any violations within 45 days, a media release said.

In addition, Pratibha Syntex must draft an information technology policy statement regarding the use of licensed software and distribute this policy to all employees, it said.

www.pratibhasyntex.com