Don't Jeopardize Your Release Of Liability! Complete Post-Settlement Obligations

As software audits increasingly become a way for software publishers to increase revenue, it is more important than ever to ensure that after a company has invested effort into resolving an audit, the company does not jeopardize the value of the release of liability.

The following are suggestions for on how to identify, negotiate, and manage ongoing settlement obligations.

1. Identify the auditing entity in order to determine which post-settlement obligations are negotiable.

Two major entities that pursue copyright infringement claims on behalf of software publishers is BSA| The Software Alliance "BSA", and the Software & Information Industry Association ("SIIA"). Each of these organizations have power of attorney to pursue copyright infringement claims, conduct an audit, and negotiate a settlement with audit targets. Although the settlement agreements for the BSA and SIIA are similar, each contain slightly different provisions that a company will