Footwear retailer Payless ShoeSource Inc. and discount clothing chain Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. agreed Tuesday to pay about $425,000 to settle claims they used unlicensed software.

Topeka-based Payless agreed to pay $124,057 over using unlicensed copies of software made by Adobe Systems Inc., Autodesk Inc., Borland Software Corp., IBM Corp.-owned Internet Security Systems Inc., Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc.

Burlington Coat Factory paid $300,000 to the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group that polices software licenses, to settle claims it had installed unlicensed copies of Microsoft Corp. and McAfee programs on computers in its offices.

Jenny Blank, BSA’s enforcement director, said the settlements show it’s more expensive to illegally copy software than to acquire licenses legally.

As part of the settlements, Payless and Burlington agreed to delete the unlicensed copies, purchase replacement programs and strengthen their software management practices.

“We have created a new software management policy and continue to refine its implementation to emphasize the importance of understanding each software company’s licensing requirements and use only fully licensed software,” Brad H. Friedman, Burlington’s chief information officer, said in a statement.

A Payless representative did not immediately return a call or an e-mail seeking comment.

BSA received reports on Payless and Burlington Coat Factory through its online reporting system at www.bsa.org. The industry group offers rewards of up to $200,000 for qualifying reports.