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The firm filed a complaint against Robert Waterman and Nusoft Trading in Essex for dealing in 35,000 counterfeit copies of the pcAnywhere product, which allows remote access to computers.

The compensation, which covers costs and damages, is the biggest yet for Symantec in Europe. Symantec also settled with other groups which manufactured and distributed the fake pcAnywhere software.

"While the amount of damages is certainly significant, more importantly, our goal was

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to put a stop to this operation's dealings in counterfeit Symantec software and to protect any unsuspecting users from using fraudulent security software," says John Brigden, Symantec's EMEA senior vice president.

As part of the deal, Nusoft Trading gave up information about others involved in the case. If any of the information about those helping with distribution or sales is found to be not entirely truthful, the company could be liable for a further £1 million charge.

"We were also able to secure all information from this business regarding their production and distribution process, and intend to use that information to press the case against others involved," says Brigden.

A report earlier this year suggested software piracy in the UK had fallen for the first time in three years. Last month, the Business Software Alliance agreed several out-of-court settlements over counterfeit software, while Microsoft in February celebrated the four-year jail sentence of a Taiwanese distributor responsible for as much as 90% of fake Microsoft products.