Most BSA Audits begin with a report from a disgruntled employee or former employee.

Microsoft licensing is a complex, multi-faceted undertaking, with different rules and license metrics applying to different products.

A business providing products to its customers under the Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement should be aware of the End User License Agreement requirements.

As the year comes to a close, many software publishers and trade associations with calendar year accounting are resolving as many outstanding software audits as possible.

In 2015, IBM acquired no fewer than 11 software and services companies. Many software customers are surprised that after IBM purchases a company, IBM often significantly changes the license terms of the products.

Software publishers regularly audit customers or potential customers to ensure license compliance and deter against copyright infringement.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) typically applies a two-times or three-times multiple to the current suggested retail price of the most recent version of the software.

Most technology-related contracts have provisions that seek to protect the seller or licensor’s intellectual property rights.

Large companies that invest heavily in software licensing are familiar with the extremely one-sided nature of most software license audit clauses.

Software publishers are regularly auditing customers to ensure compliance with license agreements, and may initiate audits directly, or through entities such as BSA|The Software Alliance, and the Software & Information Industry Association.

Organizations considering whether to upgrade to the latest software versions sometimes fail to take into account one important component–license terms.

Companies should be aware of what they are posting regarding their services on the Internet.

This firm often assists regulated entities with compliance-related concerns such as information security, due diligence, software licensing, and data breach notifications.

More than 90 percent of software audits initiated by software publishers or representative entities, such as the Business Software Alliance and Software & Information Industry Association, are settled out of court after negotiating a final settlement payment and terms.

For businesses regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, the amount of effort required to be compliant can be staggering.

Outsourcing information technology functions that are not mission critical can seem like an attractive proposition.

Google recently announced new and improved Cloud platform offerings. For businesses regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") or Gramm Leach Bliley Acts ("GLBA"), moving data to the Cloud is not something to be taken lightly.

Companies conducting business in highly regulated industries will often select our firm to assist with evaluating privacy compliance.

Just recently, California Attorney General Kamala Harris filed suit against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. because of an alleged 2011 data privacy incident.

The recent Target data breach, one of the largest breaches in history, appears to have been initiated after intruders used stolen vendor credentials to access Target’s point-of-sale system and install malware.