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When Threatened By Lawyers for Licence Violations?
An anonymous reader asks: "I help run the a small branch-office (15 staff) in a foreign country. Today I received a letter from Borland's lawyer saying that we are illegally using their software. We spoke to the programmers and with their permission, we did a 100% check of all the staff's PC. We found NO evidence of violations. The Borland rep/lawyer mentioned that their HQ has received online registration of their commercial software in the companies name. They refused to name the software and the person involved. I told them what we did but they insist we pay. But pay for what? Borland's lawyer has given us 10 days to act and reply. I feel threaten and angry. Other than paying good money for a lawyer to defend what I view as Borland threatening us, what can I do to get Borland to pay for my wasted time and my lawyer's fee. Slashdot users, anyone has receive such threats from Borland or other companies ?" It seems that when dealing with commercial software, any vendor you deal with can level these kinds of accusations, which will result in Cease and Desist letters appearing in your CIO's inbox. Many times, these letters show up on the basis of very little and sometimes incorrect information. How can a company accused of infringement convince the software publisher that no such infraction has occurred (assuming the company is innocent) without spending a barrel full of dollars to prove it? Update: 12/26 Noon, EDT by C :A few spelling errors corrected. Sorry about that.
Sure, you'll lose a day or two of work for whomever you have escorting the auditors, but that has got to be less costly than a court case.
Is Slashdot really a good place to go for legal advice?
As far as I know you are still innocent until proven guilty. As them for a written statement as to the "supposed" infraction. If they are not willing to provide such a written statement then tell them you will be writing Borland HQ about this lack of ethics -IMHO. Lawyers are not my favorite people in this world. So if they still won't provide you with the information you need to track this 'supposed' infraction down tell them to shove it.
They are being compeltely unreasonable by not giving you any details. Refuse to cooperate until they tell you what you are supposed to have done (name of software package, name of person). Make it clear that you will cooperate if they give you the details.
1. Double and triple check your systems, including servers, workstations, laptops and any remote installations (teleworkers, etc).
Better you find out yourself than have an expensive auditor find out for you.
Make sure that all employees know that you've been contacted by Borland in this manner and that they appreciate the seriousness of the situation. Make it clear that if someone has inadvertently installed some software that they shouldn't have that now is the time to come forward, at no penalty to them, rather than later, when severe disciplinary action may be taken.
If necessary, have employees sign a piece of paper stating that they have not installed any unapproved/unsupported/unregistered applications on their PCs.
Of course, now would be a good time to audit all your software. The last thing you want is to get hit by Microsoft, Lotus, Adobe, Macromedia, etc as well.
2. Make it clear to Borland that you are willing to cooperate in any way possible, but that you have verified that you're not using any of their software illegally.
Of course, this assumes that you find nothing incriminating.
Show Borland your auditing data. Show them the licenses for all the other software that you use and reiterate that you do not use their software.
Ask them to provide further evidence so that you may investigate more thoroughly. Perhaps you're the target of a disgruntled former employee, perhaps it's a clerical error and they've got the wrong guys (you're Acme Chemicals, they're really after Acme Chemical International). Either way, explain that you're just as concerned as they are as it's in your interest to make sure that this situation doesn't occur again in the future.
3. Offer to let them have your systems independently audited at their cost.
The onus is on Borland to prove you've committed software piracy, not on you to prove that you haven't. Remember, you're innocent until proven guilty.
Ask them to back up their accusations with facts, but do so in a non-aggressive manner - getting into a you-vs-us fight before anything has been proven won't help you solve the mystery and it certainly won't help you if litigation is started.
If the matter ever does go to court, a judge will look upon you far more favourably if you can show that you were cooperative from the get-go and tried to work with Borland rather than against them.
4. If necessary, be prepared to bill Borland for any expenses you incur.
Explain to Borland that you'll help them all you can but that, when they don't find anything, they should be prepared to reimburse you for your lost time, the inconvenience caused to your business, etc.
Of course, if you want to go down this route then you're going to have even more documentation available for scrutiny. Logs showing your unscheduled audits, tracking IT personnel time, etc will be a must, as will all relevant internal and external email traffic and any legal bills, etc.
5. Ask Borland why they picked on you.
They may have had some software registered in your company's name but why are they chasing you regarding piracy? Did someone mislead them into believing that you were doing something wrong or did you match some sort of profile that typically leads them to software pirates?
Again, explain that it's in both Borland and your interest to not have this happen again. Not only does it waste their time and yours but if it happens repeatedly it leaves them open to a harassment lawsuit, perhaps from you, perhaps from the next guy it happens to.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg