- [Teacher] Software is often very
valuable intellectual property.
Companies invest significant financial
and human resources in developing software,
and then protect it through the use of license agreements.
Software License Agreements describe the terms of use
for software that an organization acquires.
These agreements contain many different provisions
that cover the circumstances of acceptable use.
These may include the number and types of individuals
who may use the software,
the amount of information that may be processed,
the locations where data may be processed,
and the numbers of servers supporting the software,
as well as whatever restrictions the software publisher
chooses to include in the agreement.
Software license agreements come in many different forms.
In some cases, software agreements are detailed contracts
that are negotiated between the software vendor
and the customer.
This is especially true in the case of
expensive enterprise software.
In these cases, the vendor often proposes
a license agreement, and then the custom suggests revisions.
And there may be many round of negotiation
before the two sides agree on mutually acceptable language.
Click-through agreements are on the
other end of the spectrum.
They're take it or leave it agreements
where the customer simply clicks an I agree button
as they purchase software or sign up for a service.
These click-through agreements can be dangerous
because users typically don't read them carefully,
if at all, and they may be committing their organization
to undesirable restrictions.
You should also be familiar with the term
shrink-wrap agreements on the exam.
Shrink-wrap agreements are essentially the same
as click-through agreements, but are included
on the physical package for software
and take effect when the user opens the shrink-wrap
or breaks a seal on the software.
Shrink-wrap agreements are rarely used today,
simply because most software is distributed
electronically and not in physical form.