Responding to a software audit can be an arduous, expensive, and time-consuming process for a company. The remediation process to close compliance gaps may vary slightly depending on whether the audit is initiated the software publisher itself or outsourced to an agency such as BSA| The Software Alliance (“BSA”) or the Software & Industry Information…
For many businesses, the allure of moving their software platforms, applications and/or databases to The Cloud lies substantially in the promise of ridding themselves of license-compliance concerns. The pitfalls of a Cloud-based architecture are worth accepting for many businesses that do not want to expose themselves to the risks of hefty penalties or compliance purchases…
Most software license agreements used by major publishers like Microsoft and IBM are in many ways vague with respect to license restrictions and metrics. This leaves licensees in the position of having to interpret the agreements based on whatever guidance may be available from the publisher or, often, simply based on the licensees’ own experience…
Many software copyright infringement claims are resolved informally and often the terms are set forth in a settlement agreement. The critical terms in every settlement agreement purporting to resolve copyright infringement claims include the release of liability, confidentiality, warranties and representations, monetary sums to be paid, and in cases of software, future auditing rights. Third-party…
Many of our clients ask us questions after receiving an audit letter from Autodesk. Part I of this series focused on new trends by Autodesk’s auditing, and included in Part II is a list of potential issues arising during an audit. While this list is not comprehensive, the following are the most common questions. 1….
Large companies that invest heavily in software licensing are familiar with the extremely one-sided nature of most software license audit clauses. It is a pleasant surprise when such clauses do not give software publishers rights to conduct audits at any time and for any reason, and when they do not require the audited companies to…
There is a set of related questions our software-audit clients frequently ask us that boil down to variations on one or more of the following: Why am I being audited? What if anything did I do to cause this? How can I avoid it in the future? Unfortunately, those questions often do not have clear…
In a civil copyright infringement claim, many users of copyrighted material are surprised to learn that once the copyright owner has demonstrated that it owns a copyright in the work, the burden shifts to the copyright user to demonstrate that it had the right to use the work in the way it was using it. …
Autodesk introduced subscription plans in 2016 and shortly thereafter, began to phase out perpetual licenses. However, many perpetual users were able to continue upgrading to the newest version of Autodesk products if they had an active maintenance plan. Last month, Autodesk terminated its maintenance program, officially ending all support for perpetual licenses in an effort…
Software audits are a means for software publishers to enforce and regulate use of their copyrighted software, and publishers regularly outsource enforcement of their copyrights to law firms or entities such as the BSA| The Software Alliance (“BSA”) or Software & Information Industry Association (“SIIA”). The BSA and SIIA often send a letter to targets…
