Impact of legal and copyright aspects on software licensing behaviour in Sri Lanka

Abstract

New technology has an impact on the way we live. The advent of the computer and its related products (i.e. software, distributed systems, Internet) have enriched and enhanced our lives. But it has also challenged the existing socio, cultural, ethical and legal framework. This thesis looks into the aspect of legal awareness, and the impact it has on software licensing behavior. It also looks into the other factors which would affect software licensing behavior in Sri Lanka. It is an awareness study to see if any of the identified factors has an impact on the software licensing behavior of vendors (licensor) and users (licensee). The results indicate that though end users (corporate and home) and vendors are aware of the legalities with respect to software licensing, their knowledge has no bearing on the licensing behavior been used. Users tend to practice incorrect software licensing behavior. Socio-cultural aspects affect both user and vendor groups. Organizational policies and industrial policies affect corporate users. Vendors are not affected by any of the identified factors in this research.