How do you know if people have legitimate lisence's
by Luke Smith · in General Discussion · 06/18/2008 (6:23 pm) · 12 replies
Hi there,
Im going to begin contracting freelancers to do work however I am wondering how I can know that they are using a valid lisence to the software they use as aposed to software they have downloaded and cracked?
I presume If it came about that they used illegitimate software then it would be illegal to use the work they had produced and therefore I would have wasted alot of time and money with them.
I presume also that people will be reluctant to show details of their lisence as they might be concerned that I used it for illegal reasons.
I understand that I would have a clause in the contract to say that the work needed to be done with software that they owned a legitimate lisence to but I'm guessing alot of people might not be too bothered about that. Also the process of sueing them to try to get the money back would be very costly.
Anyone have any solutions to this?
regards,
Luke
Im going to begin contracting freelancers to do work however I am wondering how I can know that they are using a valid lisence to the software they use as aposed to software they have downloaded and cracked?
I presume If it came about that they used illegitimate software then it would be illegal to use the work they had produced and therefore I would have wasted alot of time and money with them.
I presume also that people will be reluctant to show details of their lisence as they might be concerned that I used it for illegal reasons.
I understand that I would have a clause in the contract to say that the work needed to be done with software that they owned a legitimate lisence to but I'm guessing alot of people might not be too bothered about that. Also the process of sueing them to try to get the money back would be very costly.
Anyone have any solutions to this?
regards,
Luke
#2
06/19/2008 (8:54 am)
Yeah I was talking more about software like 3dsmax or music software or visual studio etc.
#3
06/20/2008 (5:37 am)
With reference to, for instnace, visual studio. If I hired a programmer to do a couple of things for me in the code and got him to send me the files and then I compiled it on my copy of visual studio that is a commercial lisence, would it matter what soft of license to the software he held seeing as I would be the one compiling it? 
#4
06/20/2008 (6:34 am)
You can always take the path of responsibility shifting. Put a clause in their contract that holds them responsible for maintaining licensing for all products they use for the works they provide for the contract.
#5
That would depend on how the license for the product in question is worded. Likely, if he used the tool at all, even the IDE and not compiled, he's likely required to have a license. But again, it depends on the license for each tool in question.
06/20/2008 (6:36 am)
Quote:With reference to, for instnace, visual studio. If I hired a programmer to do a couple of things for me in the code and got him to send me the files and then I compiled it on my copy of visual studio that is a commercial lisence, would it matter what soft of license to the software he held seeing as I would be the one compiling it?
That would depend on how the license for the product in question is worded. Likely, if he used the tool at all, even the IDE and not compiled, he's likely required to have a license. But again, it depends on the license for each tool in question.
#6
In fact, I need to add a few more to the list, but the web editing here at the site is terrible....
06/20/2008 (6:44 am)
I have my 'licenses to drive' listed in my Profile....hard to lie when you do it in the open. I would imagine that there has been more than one 'student' copy of Max used for profit....ahem, LOL, with a justification about buying when you've made enough from being a pirate arteest. lolIn fact, I need to add a few more to the list, but the web editing here at the site is terrible....
#7
06/20/2008 (7:58 am)
Easiest is to hire people who go by their full name here, which is a start. As long as you can get proof it isn't a very well-designed fake name :)
#8
With visual studio the cheapest commercial version is very cheap,
06/20/2008 (3:27 pm)
Thanks for the responses. I guess the main issue would be to have a clause in the contract and hope nobody would agree to it knowing full well that they dont have a legitimate lisence.With visual studio the cheapest commercial version is very cheap,
#9
Disclaimer about the above not being legal advice blah blah blah here.
06/20/2008 (7:36 pm)
At least with Visual Studio these days, I don't know how much of an issue it is at all. I mean, anyone can go get the Express version, which is perfectly suitable for commercial purposes (says right in the license, after all). I suppose you could get a case of someone using a pirated Pro/whatever version of VS but really there isn't any reason to. Pretty much anyone that is going to be capable of writing the code you need will either be using Express anyway, or will have a license I'm guessing. Disclaimer about the above not being legal advice blah blah blah here.
#10
07/19/2008 (8:42 pm)
I don't think it would be illegal to use the work they produced. However, if they were to get caught, it could cost them a couple hundred thousand dollars in fines. I'm not sure that it is your responsibility unless you've purchased the software.
#11
Wondering about lawyers also. How do you find a lawyer who can do contracts for freelancing people etc. Are the places specifically for this kind of thing?
11/04/2008 (5:14 pm)
It seems like it would be your responsibility considering you're the one publishing it and the one contracting whoever. The clause in the contract thing sounds like a good idea though. Wondering about lawyers also. How do you find a lawyer who can do contracts for freelancing people etc. Are the places specifically for this kind of thing?
Torque Owner Ben Versaw
For any TGE engine - be it TGE, TGEA, etc - its very simple. Just have a post in the private section of that engine's forum and then have your team members reply there to verify they have a license.
For other software its more complicated and I really don't have advice on that.