Procedure
Effective Date
03/18/2013
Date of Last Revision
04/30/2013
Chapter Name
5.0 Intellectual Property
Chapter Number
Title
5.2.P.1
Software Piracy and License Abuse
1.0 Purpose
The purpose of this procedure is to outline the steps a Division of Information Technology staff member
shall take in the event that illegally possessed software is discovered or reported on university owned
computing resources.
2.0 Governing Policy
Number/Document Name
5.2 Software Piracy
Effective Date
03/18/2013
3.0 Procedure
Party who discovered content:
1. Identifies what he or she suspects to be illegally possessed software on a university owned
workstation, server, file system or other University owned or operated computing resource.
2. Reports content to IT Security. it-security@list2.emich.edu
IT security:
1. Determine responsibility
a. An effort should be made to determine the identity of the individual who originally placed the
software on a university owned computing resource.
b. All evidence pointing to the responsible party should be documented as thoroughly as
possible and forwarded to the Director over IT Security along with a written statement
describing the circumstances of how the illegal software came to the discovering party’s
attention. Documentation should be created by or in consultation with a member of the IT
Security Team.
2. Revoke access to pirated software - Access to the software in question should be made unavailable to
the entire EMU community while making an effort to preserve it in its original state.
3. If the illegally possessed software is found on a computing resource not directly managed by the
Division of IT, report the discovery to the appropriate Senior Administrative officer such as the Dean
of a College or the Division head of an administrative division.
IT Procedure – 5.2.P.1 Software Piracy and License Abuse
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Director in charge of IT security or a designee:
1. Reports the illegal software to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards or Human
Resources as appropriate and provides copies of all evidentiary materials.
2. Reports the illegal software to University Police and provides copies of all evidentiary materials.
3. Once the investigation has concluded, the illegally possessed software should be completely removed
from the EMU owned computing resources.
4.0 Responsibility for Implementation
The Director of Network and Systems Services is responsible for the implementation of this procedure.
5.0 Definitions
Term
Illegally Possessed Software or
Pirated Software
Definition
Any software, protected under copyright law, that is copied, distributed, modified,
or sold without proper licensing, thereby denying the copyright holder due
compensation for their creative works.
6.0 Revision History
Description
Approval Date
Original
03/11/2013
Approved by CIO
04/30/2013
IT Procedure – 5.2.P.1 Software Piracy and License Abuse
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