Licensing Question US and Canada

[Guest]

Hi,

I have been looking around for the answer to this question but haven't found
it...please forgive me if I've overlooked it somewhere...

Our company might need to provide a notebook for an end-user in Canada. My
question is regarding licensing/compliance with regards to Dell hardware and
Microsoft Windows and Office...is there any reason legally why we wouldn't be
able to purchase the PC from Dell US, have it shipped to our corporate HQ,
then have our company give it to the Canadian end-user (assuming the company
handles all the proper customs requirements)? Would different end-user
licensing for the software be required?

Thanks for any info you can give!

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

I don't see that as a problem at all since it is easy enough to do for
individuals.
Have you asked your companies attorney?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi,

I have been looking around for the answer to this question but haven't
found
it...please forgive me if I've overlooked it somewhere...

Our company might need to provide a notebook for an end-user in Canada.
My
question is regarding licensing/compliance with regards to Dell hardware
and
Microsoft Windows and Office...is there any reason legally why we wouldn't
be
able to purchase the PC from Dell US, have it shipped to our corporate HQ,
then have our company give it to the Canadian end-user (assuming the
company
handles all the proper customs requirements)? Would different end-user
licensing for the software be required?

Thanks for any info you can give!

I personally believe that you won't have any issues with regard to the XP or
Office versions; MS is big enough to have figured out that companies often
span borders, and US and Canadian laws (and languages) are similar on this
topic, but you could have your attorney check the license agreements. I've
worked for large companies that had a single corporate license of various MS
products over US and Canada (the license was different in other countries
due to language and European legal issues).

However, you might well run into warranty service issues with *Dell* should
the need arise.

I have a client, who has dual US/Canadian citizenship and now resides
primarily in Canada; on one trip to the US he purchased a Compaq laptop.
Its hard disk and then its motherboard failed in Canada, and we had a very
difficult time getting warranty service.

For the hard disk, we had to have it shipped to a US address, and then
forwarded by the individual at that address. Compaq could *not* find a way
to ship to a customer who was across the US/Canadian border. When the
motherboard failed, we spent more time going up the management chain and
finally got a service referral in Canada.

So, you should also ask Dell specifically what their service policies are
for hardware purchased in one country and then shipped to another country.
You might find that it's easier, for warranty purposes, to purchase the
system from Dell Canada. That will also completely resolve any XP/Office
licensing issues, assuming that you aren't intending to re-install a volume
licence version of XP or Office.

Of course, you may then have to have it re-shipped to your IT people for
configuration.... but you'll be covered for hardware failures.

HTH
-pk