[trustable-software] Fwd: Clarification of restrictions regarding purchase of IEC 61508

Mon Jul 30 12:21:25 BST 2018

As an “interesting” aside, in a previous life, all bought standards were watermarked with the name of the purchasing manager, since she made the transaction and had the company account with BSI.

It appears that the engineer (usually me) who had requested the document, and hence was the one who read the PDF, was in breach of the EULA…

Ummm… 

Out of curiosity, what’s the delta for a network licence?

A

From: trustable-software [mailto:trustable-software-bounces at lists.trustable.io] On Behalf Of devcurmudgeon
Sent: 30 July 2018 10:05
To: trustable-software at lists.trustable.io
Subject: [trustable-software] Fwd: Clarification of restrictions regarding purchase of IEC 61508

Amazing.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: IEC Sales Department <sales at iec.ch>
Date: 30 July 2018 at 09:41
Subject: RE: Clarification of restrictions regarding purchase of IEC 61508
To: devcurmudgeon <devcurmudgeon at gmail.com>

Dear Mr. Sherwood,

Thank you for your inquiries.

Our replies are as follows:

1. Yes, the content may only be read by one person because you bought a single user licence.

2. Yes, the licence you bought (single user) only permits one copy of each standard, these printed copies may be shared internally with your colleagues, however, they are not authorized to make any further copies.

3. The pdf may be accessed by more than one person if you have a licence that will permit this type of access.

Please note that a single user licence won't permit other people to access the files, it will only authorize one person.

If you want to share the files with your colleagues, you must buy a networking licence, in your case, we could upgrade the licence you bought to the number of users you need, you would only have to pay the difference. Please click here <https://webstore.iec.ch/Webstore/webstore.nsf/xpFAQ.xsp?OpenXPage&id=GFOT-7NPP8H>  for information on networking.

4. As I mentioned in point 2, if you have a single user licence, you may only print one copy of each file, you can share these copies with your colleagues, however, they may not print any further copies.

On the other hand, if you buy, for example, an up to three simultaneous user licence, you will be able to print 3 copies of each file. With this type of licence, you may place the files in your intranet so a maximum of three people can access the files simultaneously. If you have an up to 5 simultaneous user licence, you will be able to print 5 copies of each file and a maximum of 5 people can access the pdf files you place in your intranet, simultaneously and so on…

If you buy a simultaneous user licence, the people accessing the files don't have to always be the same, the number of simultaneous users, though, must be respected.

5. In this case, since a single user licence was bought, the only person who is authorized to access the pdf file, is the person who's name has been watermarked it. Anybody can read the printed copy though.

6. Single user licences (which has been bought by your company, specifically by your colleague Mr. Mr. Stephen Jones), only authorizes the person who's name appears in the watermark, to access the files, no other person may have access, because it's a single user licence (this refers to: ""personal devices whose access is limited to your personal use"). When an account is created, the buyer enters his company name which will be used by our system when watermarking the files, this doesn't mean that the licence is authorizing the whole company to access the files. Access is limited to an individual unless he/she buys a networking licence which will permit his colleagues to access the files he is buying. The total number of simultaneous users will depend on how many people need to access the files at a time.

Please note that Mr. Jones bought a single user licence which should only authorize him to access the pdf files, however, if you need to share them with other colleagues, there is no problem, we can upgrade the licence, you only have to let us know the total number of simultaneous users.

We will then prepare a pro forma for the upgrading of the licence that was already bought, so you pay the difference.

We're looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Marcela Gómez

Customer Service Representative

 <http://www.iec.ch/> International Electrotechnical Commission

IEC - International Electrotechnical Commission | 3 rue de Varembé <https://maps.google.com/?q=3+rue+de+Varemb%C3%A9&entry=gmail&source=g>  | PO Box 131 | CH–1211 Geneva 20 | Switzerland | T +41 22 919 0211 |  <http://iecetech.org/> e-tech magazine |  <http://www.iec.ch/> website |  <https://webstore.iec.ch/> webstore 

From: devcurmudgeon <devcurmudgeon at gmail.com> 
Sent: 29 July 2018 17:23
To: IEC Sales Department <sales at iec.ch>
Cc: trustable-software at lists.trustable.io; paul.sherwood at codethink.co.uk
Subject: Clarification of restrictions regarding purchase of IEC 61508

To whom it may concern

I refer to my public correspondence with your representative Guilaine Fournet on Twitter recently [1] in which Ms Fournet referred me to your EULA (presumed to be [2]) and suggested that I address my queries via this email address (hence this email).

As context, my employer Codethink Limited recently purchased a document from you. I was not the person who performed the transaction, but as Codethink's CEO I confirm that I authorized the payment.

After further consideration of the EULA, and particularly in light of Ms Fournet's comments I have several questions:

1) Is it your expectation that the purchased PDF/digital content may be read only by the person named at purchase time?

2) I understand that the licence permits one physical copy to be printed. Is it your expectation that this printed copy may only be read by the person named at purchase time?

If the answer to either of the above questions is yes, then Codethink will seek a return and refund since this restriction was not apparent to us at the point of purchase, and normally our technical staff (who are our expected audience for the document) do not handle purchases.

If the answer to either (preferably both) of the questions is no, I have further questions:

3) If the PDF can be accessed by one person at a time, which is what we gathered from the EULA originally, what criteria are you expecting us to apply to our reader(s)? For example, must they be employed or contracted by Codethink? And if so, on what basis?

4) Repeat of question 3) but for the printed copy.

5) Are we correct in concluding that one person is permitted to read the printed copy while another person simultaneously reads the PDF content? This was our understanding based on "Paper copies may be borrowed by other employees for their internal use only within your organization" but Ms Fournet's comments seem to suggest otherwise.

6) The EULA expressly refers to "personal devices whose access is limited to your personal use" however the document was purchased by Codethink Limited (a company), for commercial use. Please can you clarify what is your intent in this wording?

br

Paul Sherwood

CEO, Codethink Limited

[1] https://twitter.com/gnf_iec/status/1020318471194849281

[2] http://www.iec.ch/webstore/custserv/pdf/Licence.pdf

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