Feb 08
Should your company be taking greater advantage of the benefits of cloud computing? The promise sounds enticing: instantaneous access to seemingly infinite data storage and computing power — as, when, and where needed, without all the cost associated with investment in hardware and personnel required to maintain peak-time computing requirements. As Charles Babcock, editor-at-large of InformationWeek, argues in “The Cloud Revolution: How Cloud Computing is Transforming Business and Why You Can’t Afford to be Left Behind” (2010), the cloud represents nothing less than “a shift in how end users will do the bulk of their computing.”
As companies contemplate moving their existing data, software, and/or infrastructure applications to a cloud service, whether public, private, or a hybrid between the two, potential traps lurk for the unwary. Many such challenges have been widely reported and discussed, such as issues relating to securing a company’s sensitive customer data in the cloud. See “Cloud Computing Down to Earth: A Primer for Corporate Counsel,” CorpCounsel, February 28, 2011.
Less widely publicized, but no less daunting, are the challenges that migrating business software to the cloud pose for companies’ copyright oversight. If this is not managed properly, companies may face expensive copyright infringement liability — simply for continuing to use a cloud-based implementation business software that the company may have previously licensed and used for years. Given the long shadow of the copyright laws, it may be far better to seek permission than forgiveness.
To Continue Reading:
As companies contemplate moving their existing data, software, and/or infrastructure applications to a cloud service, whether public, private, or a hybrid between the two, potential traps lurk for the unwary. Many such challenges have been widely reported and discussed, such as issues relating to securing a company’s sensitive customer data in the cloud. See “Cloud Computing Down to Earth: A Primer for Corporate Counsel,” CorpCounsel, February 28, 2011.
Less widely publicized, but no less daunting, are the challenges that migrating business software to the cloud pose for companies’ copyright oversight. If this is not managed properly, companies may face expensive copyright infringement liability — simply for continuing to use a cloud-based implementation business software that the company may have previously licensed and used for years. Given the long shadow of the copyright laws, it may be far better to seek permission than forgiveness.
To Continue Reading: