Would you consider stealing a copy of the brand new version of Windows `95 from the shelf of your computer superstore? Of course not! However, you should know that if you buy a computer software program for your association staff and use it at more than one computer station, or allow an employee to take a copy home, according to the law you are stealing another's intellectual property. Recently, I visited the World Wide Web site of the software publishing Association (SPA), the software industry's "watchdog" for computer software piracy. According to the SPA, software copying, doesn't even have to be intentional to be considered illegal. They state that "...in the workplace two `shoplifting' incidents commonly occur: extra copies of software are made for employees to take home, and extra copies of software are made for the office. Both situations mean a greater number of computers can run more copies of the software than were originally purchased." If this situation currently exists at your association, you are in violation of federal copyright law--plain and simple.

The law applies to all software, whether it costs $25 or $10,000. Even when the violation is unintentional, the penalties can be rather serious. According to the SPA, "Penalties included liability for damages suffered by the copyright owner, plus any profits to the infringer that can be attributed to the copying, or statutory of damages of up to $100,000 for each work infringed." If the violation is found to be willful and for personal or commercial advantage, it is considered a federal crime. Penalties for this type of incident can be as much as $250,000 and five years in jail. I know of one instance in Sacramento where a business was a assessed a $15,000 fine for having a single WordPerfect license for their 10 users (obviously, not a client of mine or I wouldn't be in business today). In the long run, it would have been significantly less expensive to purchase the appropriate licenses.

How can you avoid software copyright infringement at your association? First, you should follow one simple rule: one software package per computer. Next, do not allow your employees to take home software. According to the SPA, "It has been found that when companies enact a policy statement stating their intention to ensure employee compliance with copyright regulations, the risk of piracy is reduced." I urge you to take this step today. In addition, the SPA has a "Self-Audit Kit" available free of charge. The kit describes procedures for ensuring that you are "software legal" and includes a software management tool for DOS or Macintosh users. If you need assistance, you can contact the SPA directly at (800)388-7478, visit their website (http://www.spa.org) to download any of the information here, or give me a call.

Finally, for those of you on a network, there is a solution--site metering software. Site metering is a process that takes the number of licenses available on the network and distributes them on request to a user. Once all licenses are in use, the next user gets a message indicating that there are no available licenses. For example, this type of product will allow you to have three copies of excel for a staff of ten, as long as only three people use it at once. You should read the specific license agreement for each package to ensure compliance when using site metering software. When site metering is used properly, you can save money while ensuring you are in compliance with the software laws.

Good Luck!

- Jaculin Thompson