diff --git a/api/icsneocpp/event.cpp b/api/icsneocpp/event.cpp
index 49fa47f..2cd95ed 100644
--- a/api/icsneocpp/event.cpp
+++ b/api/icsneocpp/event.cpp
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ static constexpr const char* DRIVER_FAILED_TO_OPEN = "The device driver encounte
 static constexpr const char* DRIVER_FAILED_TO_CLOSE = "The device driver encountered a low-level error while closing the device.";
 static constexpr const char* PACKET_CHECKSUM_ERROR = "There was a checksum error while decoding a packet. The packet was dropped.";
 static constexpr const char* TRANSMIT_BUFFER_FULL = "The transmit buffer is full and the device is set to non-blocking.";
+static constexpr const char* DEVICE_IN_USE = "The device is currently in use by another program.";
 static constexpr const char* PCAP_COULD_NOT_START = "The PCAP driver could not be started. Ethernet devices will not be found.";
 static constexpr const char* PCAP_COULD_NOT_FIND_DEVICES = "The PCAP driver failed to find devices. Ethernet devices will not be found.";
 static constexpr const char* PACKET_DECODING = "The packet could not be decoded.";
@@ -197,6 +198,8 @@ const char* APIEvent::DescriptionForType(Type type) {
 			return PACKET_CHECKSUM_ERROR;
 		case Type::TransmitBufferFull:
 			return TRANSMIT_BUFFER_FULL;
+		case Type::DeviceInUse:
+			return DEVICE_IN_USE;
 		case Type::PCAPCouldNotStart:
 			return PCAP_COULD_NOT_START;
 		case Type::PCAPCouldNotFindDevices:
diff --git a/include/icsneo/api/event.h b/include/icsneo/api/event.h
index c2f48fe..fdc5a6b 100644
--- a/include/icsneo/api/event.h
+++ b/include/icsneo/api/event.h
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ public:
 		DriverFailedToClose = 0x3003,
 		PacketChecksumError = 0x3004,
 		TransmitBufferFull = 0x3005,
+		DeviceInUse = 0x3006,
 		PCAPCouldNotStart = 0x3102,
 		PCAPCouldNotFindDevices = 0x3103,
 		PacketDecodingError = 0x3104,
diff --git a/platform/posix/ftdi.cpp b/platform/posix/ftdi.cpp
index 317d94d..9e387f2 100644
--- a/platform/posix/ftdi.cpp
+++ b/platform/posix/ftdi.cpp
@@ -56,7 +56,11 @@ bool FTDI::open() {
 
 	// At this point the handle has been checked to be within the bounds of the handles array
 	std::tuple<int, std::string>& handle = handles[device.handle];
-	if(ftdi.openDevice(std::get<0>(handle), std::get<1>(handle).c_str()) != 0) {
+	const int openError = ftdi.openDevice(std::get<0>(handle), std::get<1>(handle).c_str());
+	if(openError == -5) { // Unable to claim device
+		report(APIEvent::Type::DeviceInUse, APIEvent::Severity::Error);
+		return false;
+	} else if(openError != 0) {
 		report(APIEvent::Type::DriverFailedToOpen, APIEvent::Severity::Error);
 		return false;
 	}