autodesk free software licenses education

“Free Autodesk software and/or cloud-based services are subject to acceptance of and compliance with the terms and conditions of the software license agreement or terms of service that accompany such software or cloud-based services.

The products will be used for educational purposes only, not commercial purposes.

or - You are licensing software on behalf of a qualified educational institution.

You attend or teach at a qualified educational institution.

Here are the simple criteria (to qualify for education licensing): Listen to Attorney Steve® provide a general legal information overview of limits on Student licenses It is critical to read and understand your permitted uses.Īs harmless as this may seem, the use of student or educational software outside the terms of use can create significant unwanted legal liability for the company, officers, and directors. Sometimes, they will say the software cannot be used for publicity, notoriety, or for seeking gainful employment. The answer to avoiding these types of issues is to ONLY USE STUDENT VERSIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES – NOT FOR COMMERCIAL, PROFESSIONAL OR FOR-PROFIT purposes. This can result in having to hire legal counsel, and potentially negotiating a settlement. When they look up your company and see no paid commercial licenses, that can trigger their law firm Donahue Fitzgerald to send you a formal demand letter. We believe that Autodesk monitors not only LinkedIn profiles (touting skills such as “Inventor” or “AutoCAD”) but also monitoring the other major job boards to see if an employer is seeking to hire new interns or students with certain skills involving the use of Autodesk software. This is truer if there is the monetization of assets in the gameplay or any other type of commercial monetization (see below).Īnother potential problem can arise, for example, when an architect law firm from Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York (just to name a few), posts a job posting on sites like ' Indeed' or Craigslist and they are advertising for someone with “CAD” or 'Revit' skills.

Another issue is making and posting games (using Maya or Maya LT) as a student, or in a student-competition, and then posting the games on websites like Steam. While Autodesk is usually very friendly in allowing students to 'get a feel' for their software, they do draw the line when it comes to COMMERCIAL USE of their student software.

Many times, these students will be using free academic versions of software, such as Autodesk CAD or Revit. Many architects, engineers, and design firms grow their practice through the hiring of interns or student employees. I wanted to post a quick blog about this issue that I am finding to be more and more common in our software audit defense practice.

Autodesk free software licenses education