On 26/02/15 18:34, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote: > The edge case is that happening where the settlement exceeds $10 million USD. > We're not talking innocent violation of license terms here, we're talking about willful violations, so I am in some ways unsympathetic.
I don't know what current settlements are. Back when I paid attention to them US$10^8 could have been the penalty for an innocent violation. The company that had one computer, with one employee authorized to use it, being nailed because they had 5,000 employes, and thus, by SBA criteria, needed to have 5,000 licenses for everything. That 4,999 employees neither need, want, desire, or even can use a computer to carry out their job, was utterly irrelevant to the SBA. That the paperwork for that single computer, and all of the software on it, was otherwise in full compliance, was equally irrelevant to the SBA. I do know of a firm that bought their hardware, and software, in good faith, from a fairly well known local dealer. Unfortunately for them, nothing that the dealer sold them, was legitimate, as far as the SBA was concerned. Not a US$10^8 penalty, but certainly an innocent error -- the error being to rely on the material representation of the local dealer, that their software was kosher. Going by what was displayed on the startup screen of the Dell Laptop I purchased new, the OEM installed version of Windows was not a legitimate version of Windows 7. Would my use be innocent infringement? After all, I purchased it from the largest retailer of electronic goods in North America. A company that claims quality, value, and service as its core values. jonathon
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