Legal Issues Regarding Software Licensing and Business
Greetings,
I am the IT Manager/Administrator for a small Indiana company.
We have about 35 employees and do around $10million a year in revenue. I know we are relatively profitable as the owner and other executives are well paid.
Regardless of this, we are in violation of license agreements to the extent that I calculated out that in the event we were audited we would stand to pay close to $15million in fees for violations.
This is staggering to me. I have repeatedly tried to convince ownership and management that we need to get on track, but this will just not happen.
What are my responsibilities and my liabilities here? Also, in the event I was let go from the company, what are my responsibilities to report this?
I appreciate your help.
Re: Legal Issues Regarding Software Licensing and Business
As the IT Manager / Administrator, are you installing the unlicensed software? Your complicity in large-scale license violations could get you into trouble. If it were me and I were expected to help with a multi-million dollar rip-off, I would probably start job hunting.
Realistically, though, if the company is caught the software owners are most likely to pursue the company (and possibly its principals) for the licensing fees owed, not an employee.