In the ERP/software licensing world, it’s important to keep your friends close, but your vendors even closer.
Beeman & Muchmore has worked hard to emerge as a thought leader on not just legal issues but also on the market phenomena which put our clients at risk. Our published insights and analysis over the years are intended to draw upon our experiences to shed light on the often-shrouded business practices of ERP vendors and other entities leveraging software licensing agreements for financial gain.
By way of several podcasts, published articles, and posted blogs, we have educated the market about Tier 2 software vendors (i.e., not IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, or SAP) that are frantically employing troll-like auditing and licensing scripts that borrow heavily from the playbook written by their patent troll forefathers.
Practical risk management requires knowing the unique incentives and motivations that drive different types of vendors. With Software License Trolls, we have identified and described a market phenomenon, ignited by billions of dollars from private equity firms, where software licensing agreements become untethered to the technology and services provided to customers and morphed into weaponry for extracting dollars from licensees.
Software License Trolls often rely on greatly exaggerated, if not baseless, allegations of under-licensing while extracting fees and penalties from shell-shocked licensees. Those licensees that take on a software license troll expecting the same level of rationality and decorum they may have experienced from larger vendors are in for a rude and often belated awakening.
Based on our experience with vendors, we guide our clients through the arcane terms of licensing agreements, draw the line in the sand on audit demands, and assist our clients in pushing back on the trolls while avoiding escalation and litigation.
We were the first law firm to identify the emerging market presence of software licensing trolls.
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We provide the crucial context for your issue and leverage our experience to help you avoid a dispute.
