[Tito Puente]

Hey folks.

I'm needing a bit of preliminary advice on enforcing software export restrictions within a license (our own). I can't go into too much detail on the software (it is for Macs), but I'm wanting to implement a more stringent policy in regards to its use abroad (primarily certain countries' governments).

I'm in the UK and aware of our own export restrictions; but how feasible is it to extend the current restrictions?

I'm going to have a chat with our lawyers soon, but kinda wanted to get some ideas on this.

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.


Cheers.

[Tito Puente]

I guess this was a pretty far-out there topic, lol. I managed to get some info on this and quite happy with what I heard.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Tito Puente

I guess this was a pretty far-out there topic, lol. I managed to get some info on this and quite happy with what I heard.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers.

Care to share some of it with us?

[Tito Puente]

Basically, we can put stipulations in our license agreement that go beyond government specified ones. Just a case of specifying them, and in no way try to get around any bans on currently black-listed countries (we're doing the opposite).

I can't go into too much detail on the software/hardware involved since much of it is wrapped up in research projects. What I can say, is that it's an imaging technology used in the scientific communities. We have a strict policy of not allowing any part of it to be used in military applications, which is fine here, but we needed to make sure it isn't used in other countries for this purpose (it was interest in our tools by a major foreign government that prompted us to investigate licensing restrictions). The software does have an "unfortunate" side-eefect in that it's ideal for certain military purposes.

Apologies for being vague. I would like to say, however, that we do offer our tech. to the country I've been hinting at. Indeed, it is being used by various facilities there already.

Cheers.

[CaptainHaddock]

I'm no lawyer, but any "license" you attach to your software is only going to be legal as far as the other country's laws and practices choose to recognize such licenses in the first place.

[Tito Puente]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

I'm no lawyer, but any "license" you attach to your software is only going to be legal as far as the other country's laws and practices choose to recognize such licenses in the first place.

This is partly what I'm looking into. We want to be able to point to some sort of written reason why we won't sell to certain sectors, rather than being vague by saying we won't sell to you because of....

Licenses are broken all the time, but the need to be specific in them is important if any legal case is to be made against parties who break them - much like most licenses that state x-software can only be installed on 1 machine, etc.

We're lucky in that we have have absolute control over the sales and installations of our systems. We know exactly where every one of them is. It's just that we're going to take extra measures to ensure they aren't installed in places we'd rather not have them be. Plus, you can never be tell exactly where your stuff ends up. It might be that one institution unknowingly lends a system to the military. If we see it turn up there, we can then slap them with our license, and the originating institution then runs the risk of us withdrawing our support in the future.

Taking legal action is pretty hard in the first place, even when the law is on your side. But it's extra hard for the reason you mentioned above.

I'm hoping that areas such as the military would be more prudent than most when it comes to things like this.