Software Audit Essentials – Open Text

Introduction

Our law firm has helped many companies facing software audits, from the Business Software Alliance to Autodesk and Microsoft.  This blog, however, deals with another company you may have received an audit letter from – OpenText.  According to Wikipedia:

“OpenText Corporation (also written opentext) is a Canadian company that develops and sells enterprise information management (EIM) software.  OpenText, headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is Canada's largest software company as of 2014 and recognized as one of Canada's top 100 employers 2016 by Mediacorp Canada Inc. OpenText software applications manage content or unstructured data for large companies, government agencies, and professional service firms.OpenText aims its products at addressing information management requirements, including management of large volumes of content, compliance with regulatory requirements, and mobile and online experience management.  OpenText employs over 10,000 people worldwide and is a publicly traded company, listed on the NASDAQ (OTEX) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (OTEX).”

Open Text products and services

This company is truly international and has a wide range of software products and service

• Customer Experience Management (CEM) – Customer Communications Management Digital Asset Management Marketing Optimization Experience Analytics Web Content Management Workforce Optimization

  Digital Process Automation – AppWorks Dynamic Case Management Low-Code Development Advanced Media Orchestration Active Client Management People Center Contract Center RFx Center MCM for Life Sciences Cloud Service Brokerage

  B2B Integration B2B Managed Services Analytics Supply Chain Automation Fax Solutions Notifications Identity & Access Management Internet of Things

  Enterprise Content Management (ECM) –   Extended ECM Documentum ECM in the Cloud OpenText™ Core InfoArchive eDOCS Auto-Classification

  Discovery – Axcelerate eDiscovery and Investigations Decisiv™ Search Perceptiv™ Contract Analysis InfoFusio

• Security – EnCase™ Endpoint Security EnCase Endpoint Investigator EnCase Risk Manager EnCase Forensic EnCase Mobile Investigator

  Analytics – Magellan Analytics Suite

  OpenText EULA

Here is a look at the Open Text End User License Agreement (“EULA”):

As you can see, there are a few important points here:

1. Open Text can audit you
2. Customer has a duty to keep records
3. This can be done by questionnaire
4. They can conduct an on-site audit
5. Non-compliance can result in a “true-up” process and/or may require the customer to pay for costs of the audit

Do most people realize this BEFORE they sign up as clients of their software?  Well, that is a debatable questions.  Many people skim over software license terms and “agree” for the sake of getting the software on their computers, laptops, or servers.  Nevertheless, in many cases the EULA may still be enforceable.

Contact a software license compliance law firm

We can help companies across the United States. from large to small, industry to industry, in responding to requests for software audits and license compliance reviews.  These are typically brought as copyright software audit reviews and may be brought under the United States copyright law scheme which falls under the Byrne Convention.  Call us at (877) 276-5084.  We are able to structure low flat rate legal fees for most engagements.