Software liability

Kaner,C. (1997). Software liability, http //www.kaner.com/pdfs/theories.pdf. 

Johnson [17] identifies several topics related to liability, and she offers an important distinction as well. Among the topics related to liability and computer use in general are legal liability, the duty of honesty, the nature of contracts, misrepresentation, express and implied warranties, and negligence [17]. The relevant distinction concerns the nature of software as either a product or a service. Many of these topics hold little interest for the ethicist investigating computer ethics. For instance, legal liability is less important to philosophy than to jurisprudence. 

The distinction between software as a product and software as a service seems more relevant to research. As Prince [22] suggests, the fact that software is sold and used as a prepackaged item means that strict liability obtains. Should there be a defect in the software, the manufacturer is held liable. Flowever, and especially with research, software is often written with a specific purpose in mind. As such, the programmer is providing a service rather than a product. In the case of software written specifically for a certain research purpose, the liability may not fall exclusively on the software provider. In those situations, it behooves the researcher to be very clear in knowing and stating his or her purposes to the programmer. 

Prince J. Negligence Liability for defective software. Oklahoma Law Rev 1980 33 848-55. 

With the advent of modern LC/MS instrumentation and sophisticated software, metabolic profiling has gradually become a significant tool to support drug discovery. Early identification of active or toxic metabolites and characterization of metabolic liability of a particular structural series will significantly reduce the cycle time of the lead opti-... 

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There are also efforts underway that are focused on reducing the total liability to software developers by avoiding excessive awards and introducing a no-fault claims system which may be of future benefit.(45)... 

A large database of pharmacophores was developed by Inte Ligand [40]. These models were automatically derived from available protein structures with the software LigandScout [41] or were built manually for selected targets, for which no structural information is available. This pharmacophore database is suitable for in silico profiling of compounds yielding early on potential liabilities of molecules, which have to be proven experimentally. 

The foregoing account has considered the liability of a software house in contract law. There are of course other ways in which a software house can be rendered liable for defective software which causes loss or damage, for example, the tort of negligence, or the law relating to negligent misstatement might... 

There are a number of cases on the Unfair Contract Terms Act and on the requirement of reasonableness. The cases must, however, be treated with caution for the decision in each turns on its facts and just because one case is decided one way it does not mean that all others will follow. One example is St Albans City and District Council v International Computers Ltd [1996] 4 All ER 481. The facts were that the council had ordered a computer system from ICL to enable them to compute the Community Charge for the forthcoming year. ICL insisted on using its standard terms and conditions which stated that its liability will not exceed the price or charge payable for the item of Equipment, Program or Service in respect of which liability arises or 100,000 (whichever is the lesser)... . Errors in the software and incorrect advice from ICL s project manager resulted in an overestimate of the population of the area, an undercharge of residents and a loss to the council of 1.3 million. 

Reed (ed.), 2000. Computer law, 4th edn. Blackstone Press (especially the chapters on hardware contracts, software contracts and liability). 

For systems which contain both hardware and software, a naive analysis would suggest that, given the statutory definition of product, the software could be construed as a component of the product, so that a software house could attract liability in the same way as the producer or supplier of any other component. 

The Consumer Protection Act was passed to implement the EC Directive on product liability and the question of whether the definition of product might also include computer software has been the subject of a question in the... 

Hazard I has obvious applications for writing fire-code standards and could be useful for establishing liability in fires involving fatalities. It can also be used by compounders to predict the performance of developing FR plastics and to compare plastics. This software package is available from the National Fire Protection Association, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, Massachusetts, 02269. 

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