NASSCOM has been doing a great job of spreading awareness about the use of legal and licensed software and avoiding the pitfalls of software piracy. All of us in the software business should make it a point to use only legal and licensed software in our organizations.
On the flip side, I think NASSCOM also has a role to play in esuring that software companies don't resort to unreasonable and unethical practices to rectify "suspected" non compliances.
A recent case in point is that of IBM which is trying to enforce an audit on us based on their IPLA (International Passport Advantage Agreement) which gives them the right to audit you if you ever happen to purchase an IBM product. Obviously this information is not provided to you when you place an order and make the payment. This information is only available to you when you try to install the software.
"Proof of Entitlement: IBM specifies a Program's authorized use in a Proof of Entitlement (called "PoE"). Examples of the measure of the level of authorized use include, but are not limited to, the number of copies,
processors, or users. This PoE, supported by your matching paid invoice or receipt, is evidence of your level of authorized use. During the period this Agreement remains in effect, and for two years thereafter, IBM has
the right to verify your compliance with this Agreement on your premises during your normal business hours and in a manner that minimizes disruption to your business. IBM may use an independent auditor for this with your
prior approval, which you will not unreasonably withhold".
I have no issues with this except that IBM is not agreeable to sign an NDA before conducting such an audit. They insist that only their authorized auditor "KPMG" needs to sign an NDA. I think this is totally unacceptable since it is an industry standard practice to sign an NDA whenever any priveleged information is made available.
Another important issue is that the software companies are not very transparent about temporary transfers of licenses. For example, my international client would like to "loan" me a temporary license of a product for the duration of a project. There are no clear cut guidelines and software companies tend not to give clear answers to such issues. In the case of IBM, they say that there has to be tripartite agreement between the IBM reseller, the foreign client and the Indian party. However, no reseller has clear cut knowlege about this. In fact, a Sales Manager in IBM even told us that ALL International License transfers were illegal and forced us to buy some software licenses, when later we came to learn from KPMG that such transfers were indeed possible.
I would be very interested to know NASSCOM's stand in this matter and opinions of fellow members.
Atul Agarwal
Edited: September 30, 2009 04:02PM
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