6. License

A license allows you to use the software in a certain way.

For example it may limit how many computers you can install the software on, and so it is illegal to go beyond this number.

At your school, the ICT department will put software on to the network and will be given a licence to do so.

It may well be that they have a "site" licence, meaning that they can install a program onto any computer at the school, no matter how many machines there are 'on site'.

Sometimes the licence agreement may be that they can only put the software onto a maximum of 20 machines, and so it would be against the law to make a copy on more than this number.

With software costing thousands of pounds, it is very tempting for a business to install software on all their machines... after all they have paid for the package... but the Copyright Act is there to make sure they are not tempted to do so.

In the UK, the Business Software Alliance has targeted small and medium sized businesses to ensure that software is correctly licensed.  They will visit businesses and examine their systems to ensure that no illegal software is installed.

FAST - The Federation Against Software Theft is another organisation that is trying to ensure that software is properly licensed.