Bring Your Own IP?

The commercial use of private apps and the licensing implications of remote software access are hot topics for businesses.

Business use of privately purchased apps

Apps on private devices

BYOD of course requires use of private-owned equipment for business purposes. Thus, employees may also tend to use apps installed on their own devices for business purposes. Apart from the IT security issues which the use of apps not pre-approved by the IT department raises, businesses also need to also consider the licensing implications of this situation.

Applicable license terms

Legitimate use of apps is always based on license agreements needed to be concluded between the apps' sellers (eg the developers who offered the app in an app store) and the users purchasing the apps. If the app is not sold under individual license terms provided by the seller, the standard licensing terms of the app shop operators may apply. If the applicable licensing terms contain