Is Your Office Software Legal?
August 26, 2009 | Practice Tip Of The Week
Have you checked to make sure all of the software loaded on the computers at your office is licensed and legal? If not, you are putting yourself at great risk.
Software is protected by copyright laws written to protect the author’s work product. It is the same as for a book author or music composer. When you purchase commercial software, you do not actually buy the underlying software code, you buy a license to use it (with a few exceptions) in accordance with the software license.
Under federal law in the United States, each violation carries a potential fine of up to $150,000 per software title copied illegally. Individuals prosecuted for criminal copyright infringement face up to $250,000 in fines and imprisonment of up to five years. So you be the judge as to whether this topic presents a real risk to your business.
For more information, visit “Practical Compliance,” a legal blog from Lewis Kinard.
The Practice Tip of the Week is a service of the Professional Liability Fund. The tips are not meant as legal advice, nor binding on any bar association. For additional information about PMA services in Oregon, contact Dee Crocker, Sheila Blackford, or Beverly Michaelis at the PLF: (503) 639-6911, (800) 452-1639, or www.osbplf.org.