TEN schools and colleges in the UK are currently under investigation for using unlicensed or counterfeit software, but the number at risk of coming under similar scrutiny is almost certainly much higher.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA), which enforces copyright law on behalf of Microsoft, Adobe and other companies worldwide, estimates that more than a quarter of all computer software in the UK is used illegally.

Software misuse is probably as widespread in education as in other sectors, but the software alliance is currently focusing its enforcement on the business community, rather than schools. “That’s not to say we won’t change that focus,” warns Mike Newton, BSA UK’s campaign relations manager.

Where schools do come under investigation, it is usually because someone has reported them to the BSA, which offers a reward of up to pound;10,000 for information leading to a successful judgment or out-of-court settlement.

In recent years several schools have been caught using unlicensed software or installing more copies of software programmes than their licences allow. They include Newbold community school in Chesterfield, which last year paid the BSA an undisclosed sum after its use of illegal software was reported on the alliance’s whistleblower’s hotline (0800 510510).

Few schools deliberately set out to break copyright law. They are more likely to be the unwitting victims of software counterfeiters or run into trouble when computers they buy at a discount or receive as gifts come bundled with unlicensed software. “If they receive the hardware with software that hasn’t been deleted and don’t receive the licences, they’ve been given a problem, as opposed to a present,” says Mr Newton.

He advises schools to make sure that one member of staff is responsible for keeping track of exactly what software pupils and staff are using. But many teachers complain about having to comply with a bewildering array of licences, all with different terms and conditions and often couched in impenetrable language.

A survey carried out last December by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) found that more than half of all schools surveyed considered licensing too complex. But the software industry denies that its own licensing arrangements are part of the problem.

“Our experience is not that people get into the situations they do because they misunderstand the licence. It’s simply that they haven’t taken any notice of it at all,” says Mike Newton.

He rejects the idea of standardised licences, pointing out that manufacturers see these documents as an important way of differentiating themselves from their rivals. Standardisation could also expose manufacturers to accusations of forming an illegal cartel.

In an effort to resolve this issue, BESA is trying to introduce a standard cover sheet that would go on the front of all licences issued by its members. This would give schools basic information, such as the number of individuals or computers covered by a licence, when it expires and whether staff can take the software home to prepare lessons. The licence itself, with all its small print, would not be affected.

Questions of copyright in books and other print-based materials seem to present schools with far fewer problems than those connected to computer software or material published on the Internet. Robert Dyer, business development manager for education at the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) - which licenses schools and other organisations to photocopy extracts from books, journals and magazines - says this is because many teachers are themselves authors. So there is a built-in awareness in schools that the content of printed materials is somebody’s intellectual property - and that using it without permission amounts to theft.

“There is a marked difference in terms of respecting copyright when you move from the physical to the digital realm,” says Mr Dyer. But he believes this is changing as more and more schools launch their own websites and become creators of copyright content that they need to protect.

Further information on copyright is available on the following websites:www.besanet.org.ukwww.bsa.orgukwww.licensing-copyright.org

SCHOOL PAYS FOR LICENSING LAPSE

A NEW IT network manager was already trying to sort out whether all the software used at Rawlins Community College had been licensed or not when somebody shopped the school to the Business Software Alliance for using unlicensed software.

David Brindley, who became principal of the Leicestershire school a year ago, stresses that the problem was a “historical” one that the school would have tackled even without the BSA’s intervention.

“We were very keen to get our house in order and were doing that anyway, so the contract from BSA, although unwelcome in one sense was not unhelpful in that it precipitated what we were seeking to do,” he says.

The software alliance did not uncover any evidence of deliberate wrongdoing, but it did find that the school did not have enough licences to cover all the copies of software installed on its computer network. As well as having to buy extra licences for these copies, Rawlins paid the BSA pound;15,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

The school is unlikely to face a similar debacle again. At the BSA’s suggestion, it now has a written software licensing policy with accompanying guidelines for staff. “The key thing is getting it into everyone’s thinking that when you buy a fully-programmed machine you have got to make sure that you consider all the licensing implications of putting that machine into operation,” says Mr Brindley.