Software Asset Management
Guidelines on Compliance with the Copyright Ordinance
Table of Content
The Copyright Ordinance clearly sets out the civil and criminal liability in relation to the possession and dealing of copyright infringing materials.
All members of the University are obliged to refrain from any offending acts as prescribed by the Ordinance. To ensure legitimacy in all acquisition and use of computer software by the CityUHK community, the University has also formulated respective policies and procedures on Software Asset Management.
The University is committed to observing the guidelines set out in the "Reference Guide on Software Asset Management" prepared by the Digital Policy Office of HKSAR, which defines clear guidelines on :
- Software Asset Management
- Proper use of software
- Types of unauthorized software
- Signs of illegally copied software
The Management Board, at its meeting on July 3, 2002, endorsed the implementation of a Software Asset Management scheme in the University, which covered a revision on the procedure for software acquisition and the implementation of a central software asset inventory. In addition, the University has also enforced Software Copyright Management to ensure that only licensed software is installed and used by staff.
1. Software Acquisition
Starting from July 2002, all software acquisitions should be processed through the University's central procurement system. Reimbursement for software purchase through departmental petty cash is not allowed.
When making purchase requisitions on software in i-Procurement, departments have to enter the software name, version number, type of license and licensing period.
2. Software Inventory Record
The new Software Inventory System is to assist departments in managing their software inventory and licensing information. It has been incorporated into AIMS under "Software Asset Management" of "Office Admin".
Data on software acquisitions will be extracted from purchase orders and added directly to the departmental inventory database. Departments are responsible for entering licensing information and maintaining an up-to-date software inventory.
The Software Copyright Declaration and Compliance Observation is established to ensure only licensed software is installed and used by staff. Users are required to declare annually in AIMS the legitimate use of software on all University-owned devices allocated to them. Under the observation procedure, the Central IT will periodically scan for software installed on these computers for compliance checking.
To ensure compliance with the Copyright Ordinance, all staff and students shall observe the following guidelines.
1. Computers and Software
Software includes applications, utilities, fonts, drivers, cliparts, music, video files, etc.
(a) Responsibilities of Staff and Students
- Unlicensed software shall not be installed into PC or workstations of the University.
- Infringing software shall not be offered for electronic distribution or sharing, such as email, personal web pages, FTP and peer-to-peer utilities.
- All copyrighted electronic resources shall not be downloaded without the consent of the owners.
- Staff shall make sure their workstations are secured from unauthorized access.
(b) Responsibilities of Service Providers
Service providers refer to staff or departments who are providing/maintaining services such as FTP servers, Web servers and departmental servers.
- All servers shall be secured from unauthorized access. For departments, designated staff shall be assigned to be responsible for compliance.
- All software running in their servers must be properly licensed.
- All copyrighted electronic resources shall not be downloaded or distributed without the consent of the owners.
- Service providers shall take their best endeavour to ascertain compliance with the Copyright Ordinance by all users of their services.
(c) Responsibilities of Departments
- When purchasing hardware and software, make sure proper licenses are acquired.
- Designated staff shall be assigned to be responsible for all computers in a department in relation to compliance with the Copyright Ordinance.
2. Electronic Resources in Library
This includes resources subscribed from publishers and materials put on Web by the Library.
- Massive downloading is strictly forbidden.
- Reference materials can only be used on a "fair dealing" basis.
- License agreements with the publishers must be observed.
3. Web-based Teaching
- For teaching materials pointing to electronic resources already available in the Library, rules set in point 2 must be observed.
- When using materials from other sources (such as web site, audio/video media, graphic, book, journal, magazine and newspaper) for teaching, research and course work, staff and students must comply with the terms and conditions governing such usage as stipulated by respective copyright owners.
4. Photocopy
Photocopying books, journals, etc. (within the stipulated portion as stated in the Copyright Ordinance) is permitted in the University provided that the copies are for own private study or research and are within the scope of "fair dealing".
- Intellectual Property Laws Update (provided by Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR)
- Publications on Intellectual Property (provided by Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR)
- Intellectual Property Frequently Asked Questions (provided by Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR)
- Reference Guide on Software Asset Management (provided by Digital Policy Office, HKSAR)
For any questions, please contact the Computing Services Centre (CSC) at csc@cityu.edu.hk.