Software Use and Your Legal Liabilities

6. Making It Work

6.1 Communicate the policy to all employees.

• Tell them you do not allow the use of illegal, pirated software.
• Consider referring to the policy in your statement of employment terms (see Employment contracts). Alternatively, ask employees to sign a statement saying they understand and accept the policy.
• Regularly remind employees of the policy, particularly when breaches are suspected.
• Encourage employees to tell you if they think they may have dubious software, or if they have any other concerns.

6.2 Rigorously enforce the policy.

• Make following your software policy a disciplinary requirement.
• The more effort you put into enforcing your policy and making sure employees know the use of illegal software is not acceptable, the less vulnerable you will be. Showing that you made all reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorised use of software helps protect you against legal claims if an employee breaches the policy.

6.3 Make your software policy part of a wider IT policy designed to safeguard the security of your systems and data and protect you against a range of legal risks.

This should:

• State what you consider to be acceptable and unacceptable use of your IT system.
• Set out who is responsible for administering and repairing systems and enforcing your policy.
• Regulate how the Internet and email are used.
• Protect your intellectual property rights. Employees can use the Internet and email to copy and pass on your intellectual property or other confidential material, perhaps unwittingly. Implementing an effective policy and a good document management system is essential.