Software audits are significant legal and financial risks for all companies. With more and more software publishers utilizing intrusive audits and other information-gathering exercises as the basis for licensing transactions and – more troublingly – as sources of revenue through compliance-enforcement actions, more of our clients are implementing detailed policies to define whether and how…
Facing a software audit is a daunting process, which takes time, money, and resources to complete. Typically, the first question the target of an audit asks is whether the audit is legitimate, closely followed by why the company has been selected for an audit. What triggers an Autodesk audit? Disgruntled employee: One of the common…
As software audits increasingly become a way for software publishers to increase revenue, it is more important than ever to ensure that after a company has invested effort into resolving an audit, the company does not jeopardize the value of the release of liability. The following are suggestions for on how to identify, negotiate, and…
In order to effectively manage their software usage and to mitigate compliance exposure, companies need to know how to gather and analyze information regarding their product usage. While some software products may have unique data-collection requirements that ordinarily would not be applicable for other products, usage levels for many products can be measured using a…
In order to effectively manage their software usage and to mitigate compliance exposure, companies need to know how to gather and analyze information regarding their product usage. While some software products may have unique data-collection requirements that ordinarily would not be applicable for other products, usage levels for many products can be measured using a…
One of the tasks with which Scott & Scott’s clients most commonly request our assistance is how to conduct a software audit. While almost all companies, large and small, use software in order to conduct their business operations, many of those companies lack mature or even nascent software asset management practices. Consequently, when asked to…
Without a contractual provision to the contrary, ambiguous terms in a software license will be construed against the software publisher. Provided that there are no other business factors that would make litigation unwise, an ambiguous license agreement is the situation most likely to lead to litigation. Construction against the Drafter When dealing with ambiguities, it…
One of the most common mistakes I encounter in software audits is what I call the post-effective date software buying spree. The buying spree occurs in response to a letter from a publisher or publisher’s attorneys requesting a self audit. Many clients are discouraged to learn that software purchases made after the date of the…
Software piracy audits conducted by the BSA and the SIIA threaten small and medium sized businesses. As the economy tightens, software publishers such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Autodesk hide behind software piracy enforcement groups to pursue customers accused of installing more software on corporate computers than they have purchased licenses for. If your company has…
Disputes involving software usage are on the rise for businesses of all sizes. In some cases, technical teams respond to a software publisher’s or a third party’s audit request and provide significant amounts of data without notifying anyone on the corporate governance or the legal teams. It is critical for those teams to evaluate the…
