Software licenses, even the ones in those troublesome click-wrap agreements, contain many provisions that can positively and negatively impact a licensee. From the license grant to the indemnification provisions, companies are struggling to ensure that the applicable software licenses meet their business needs.

For large companies with decades of history with a particular publisher, this problem can be magnified by conflicting provisions in the agreements. Procurement teams can spend months negotiating favorable terms in a license agreement, only to have the installation of an upgraded product that has unfavorable license terms supersede the favorable provisions that the company worked so diligently to obtain.

One software licensing issue that many businesses are struggling with is the geographic or territorial licensing restriction contained in some software licenses. Technology professionals and executives are often surprised that some of the software they have purchased cannot be used throughout the entire global enterprise.