More and more cases come to light of companies using unlicensed software
Piracy of music, video and computer software is receiving a high level of media interest. Using unlicensed software is a form of theft. Over the past few years an increasing number of companies have been prosecuted for using unlicensed software and the authorities that have the powers to audit companies are keen to promote such prosecutions.

Companies that use unlicensed software fall into one of two categories, those that know they are using unlicensed software and those that don’t.  As the saying goes ‘there is no place in law for ignorance’ and the same can be said here. 

 

It is the responsibility of all companies to ensure that the software they are using it is correctly licensed.  With companies using more and more computer software to run their businesses and with people starting or leaving employment it is easy to lose track of software inventory & assets. 

 

There are steps companies can take to reduce the risk of unlicensed software such as a robust and documented software policy in place.  This policy would also form part of employees’ terms and conditions of employment as employees themselves can be responsible for downloading or installing unlicensed software without really knowing the consequences to their employer.  In such cases it would be the company that would be liable for prosecution.

 

There have been other issues that have come to light when carrying out software licence audits, one  of the most common being employees storing vast amounts of music files on company servers.  In one case it was thought that people were sharing files with each other.  This practice constitutes illegal file sharing as well as taking up valuable storage space on company systems, consuming backup space & time, using internet bandwidth, etc.  Though the managers were unaware of this practice, the company would have been liable for prosecution for allowing illegal file sharing as the files were stored on their systems.  All this is aside from the question of whether employees were utilising company time to engage in this practice, but that’s a topic for another time.

 

Are you sure your company’s software is correctly licensed?

 

If you would like to find out how Network ROI can assist  your company or organisation in correctly managing software licences then call 0131 510 2210.

 

 
 
 
 
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