Many companies choose to pursue an internal audit of software systems after receiving a request from the Business Software Alliance (BSA). When it comes to deciding how to proceed with an audit, there are multiple considerations, including, but not limited to, the size of the company, amount of computers, type of software at issue, IT…
On January 12, 2012, the D.C. Court of Appeals held that the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) would not be required to disclose the name of one of its confidential informants in a civil case for defamation. Solers, Inc. had filed its lawsuit against a John Doe defendant for defamation after it resolved a…
I am an intellectual property attorney in Southlake, Texas who has handled more than 230 Business Software Alliance audit matters for small to medium-sized companies. For the last ten years, I have been representing end-user companies nationally in software audit matters initiated by major software publishers including Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, IBM and their trade groups…
Many people mistakenly believe that a license agreement, manual and a copy of software media are sufficient to prove ownership of a software product. However, in the event of an audit, trade associations or software publishers do not accept any of these as proof of ownership. To prove ownership, auditors want a dated proof of…
