Software License

Software License

The purchase of software does not, in almost all cases, convey ownership of the program itself but rather a limited right to use that program in ways specified by the owner of that software's copyright. Software licenses are legally binding contractual agreements that protect the rights of the copyright holder in regards to the given software.

The rights granted to the purchaser of software are limited to fair usage (a non-exclusive right to use the program under restrictions set out in the license) and, in some case, the right to possess the media (CD-ROMs or floppy discs, for example) that the program is stored on.

The software license exempts copyright holders from most consumer protection laws as they are not selling a product but rather the right to use a product while they (the copyright holders) retain copyright and legal ownership of the product. It's a one-way contract that allows copyright holders the absolute and exclusive right to exploit the software for profit and, when and if they choose, to discontinue supporting and manufacturing copies of the software (with the end user, the consumer, having no legal recourse).

License Rights and Types

Software licenses are most often found with the software media itself or as an electronic statement that must be affirmed if the software is downloaded from a website. The former are sometimes called shrink wrap licenses because they are indeed shrink-wrapped with the media and are, in most cases, visible to the consumer. Breaking the shrink wrap after purchase is a tacit, legally binding acceptance of the software's licensing agreement.

Most shrink-wrap software licenses are perpetual, that is they have no expiration date, but in actuality they don't really run forever since copyright holders will almost always allow programs to become obsolete and unsupported.

Downloaded software is protected by “click on” licenses which will prevent the use of the program unless the consumer affirms with a “yes, I understand” click, representing their acceptance of the software's license. This is also a legally binding contract.

Some software licenses allow for secondary usage, that is loading the software onto more than one computer, but it is not something that is in any way standard procedure. Some licenses allow businesses or universities to use one copy of software on multiple computers but these are very specific licenses subject to very specific rules and limitations.

Piracy

There can be stiff fines for making licensed copies of software. Fines can range upwards of thousands of dollars.

Pirated software can be found through random audits of companies that have purchased multiple licenses already as well as through communication over the internet between a computer and a vendor site (computers running Windows, for example, hold ongoing “conversations” with Microsoft systems reporting the parameters of the computers without the knowledge of the computer owners), and even through the actions of “bounty hunters” (though this practice is not widely used in the US--at least not yet).

By Michael Willis           


Related Links:

  • Temple.edu
    An informative tutorial on software licensing and its attendant copyright implications.


 

 

 

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