🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov5.204913.26697@news.arc.nasa.gov> lamaster@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Hugh LaMaster) writes:
>|> Given that any license management scheme can be subverted, what site
>|> administrators really want is a method for helping assure compliance
>|> to license agreements.  What this method looks like is up to folks like
>|> the folks who hang out on comp.software.licensing to work out.
>I agree with this completely.  The *customer* has the legal and moral
>responsibility of adhering to the software vendor's license.  And, as
>has been discussed previously, any (affordable) LM scheme CAN be
>subverted if the customer really wants to.  The point is to make it
>convenient for the customer to enforce the licensing agreement.  

  While all of the above is clearly true, there is another very 
  important reason for the vendor to have SOME kind of licensing
  management scheme.  And that is to provide evidence, in the event
  that legal action MUST be taken, that the vendor in fact took
  steps to protect their rights and that the customer must have
  taken affirmative action in order to violate the terms of the
  license.  My lawyer once told me that if you don't do anything
  to protect your software and the customer "accidently" is just
  able to use it in violation of your contract, you will have a
  hard time proving intent to violate your contract, and this
  goes to the heart of proving damages.  If you have ANY kind of
  protection scheme, even the most trivial, but it can be clearly
  shown that there is NO way the violation of the contract could
  have occurred WITHOUT some kind of intentional act by the customer,
  you have gone a long way toward winning your case and possibly
  getting damages (certainly compensatory and possibly punitive).
  All of the above suggests that mild protection schemes are the
  best because they meet the needs of both the customer (to help
  assure that their users are not accidently violating the terms
  of the contract) and the vendor (to provide proof if needed of
  the intention to violate).  

  Unfortunately, there is almost nothing you can do to prevent
  the intentional malicious breach of contract by a skilled
  software developer or administrator who is able to manipulate
  your management scheme and break it.  If they want to , they
  WILL find a way.   Sort of like locking your car.  It won't
  stop the professional thief, but it will prevent joyriding
  ("But your honor, the car was just there, open with the
    keys still in the ignition!")

  Jon Rosen