Can I See Your License, Ma’am?

A software end user license agreement (EULA) trumps copyright doctrines on copying, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has learned in a recent dispute over jail software.  In the case, the cops were found making more copies of some software than they had licenses for.

They argued, unsuccessfully, that the copies were proper under copyright doctrine, but they lost because the EULA apparently prohibited them.  The InfoWorld site gives some details and a critical commentary on the decision.

[Frank Snyder]