Given that a lot of people are in Redmond this week, I thought it would be a good time to post an observation I made about Microsoft while attending the Parallels summit. To put it in lawyerspeak: what’s up with Microsoft?
One of the first groups of people I met at the Monday networking reception was a group of Microsoft license enforcement employees (my term, not theirs). This group works with you when you come out of compliance with your Microsoft agreements. This group said that they were at the event to answer people’s questions about their licenses.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a stickler for license compliance. Indeed, I’ve seen more problems with clients who are out of compliance with their licenses than most lawyers ever want to see. These problems are incredibly difficult to solve, and the proposed solution “well we’re increasing our use of their product, so they’ll cut us a break,” almost never works.
However, I really question the wisdom of simply disclosing the fact that you are out of compliance with your licenses without first developing a strategy to address the issue, or at least understanding the economic implications that often come from an audit.
License audits, particularly Microsoft’s license audits, are extremely time consuming and costly – excluding the costs of coming into compliance with your license. It is important to remember that the facts that led to your coming out of compliance are as important, if not more, than the black letter of the license itself. Voluntarily disclosing that information, even in the form of a hypothetical question at a conference, without thinking hard, is an awful idea.
This observation holds true not only at informal events, but also for “nice” emails you get from industry associations. It’s important to remember that the BSA is not on your side. They work for the licensors. The same applies, in a much less emphatic fashion, of your sales contact with the software company. Most sales people have little or no stroke with the licensing enforcement or legal department. They’re likely not going to be able to secure special consideration for you simply because you’re a good customer. In addition, in most cases they are duty bound to report the fact that you are out of compliance up within their organization.
Do your own audit. Know the facts before you decide on a course of action.
About David Snead
David Snead is a lawyer whose practice is focused on internet infrastructure providers. In his eleven years in this practice, he has represented clients including multinationals, middle tier hosting companies, and two guys, a server, a T-1 and a huge MasterCard balance.
A long-time WHIR contributor, David Snead is the Web hosting business's best-known legal expert. Through his WHIR blog, he offers a credible legal perspective on both specific actions in the Web hosting business and general developments in legislation.
No related posts.
