Advisory group gives up push for Uniform Software licensing law.

Efforts to get state governments to adopt a uniform legal standard for computer software licensing have been put off, to the relief of insurers such as Prudential Insurance Co. of America, which estimated such a standard would have cost it about $30 million a year if enacted across the United States.

The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act was an attempt to develop a body of contract law surrounding software licensing agreements, said John Lobert, senior vice president of state government affairs for the Alliance of American Insurers. Software manufacturers wanted the law because it would have legitimized any and every thing they could have ever wanted to do, but UCITA would have created a nightmare for software users, Lobert said.

For years, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws has been trying to get passage of UCITA in state legislatures, but met with opposition from many fronts. In addition to the insurance industry, state attorneys general, libraries, software engineers, financial institutions, businesses and consumer groups were just some of the interested and affected parties opposing the law, Lobert said.

Those who use and install software are familiar with the licensing agreements, which require checking the "I Accept" box, no matter what the licensing agreement may say, or else the software can't be installed. UCITA would have "allowed the software manufacturers to change the terms of the licensing agreement after the software was opened, installed and used, Lobert said. "It would have allowed them to post licensing changes on Web sites without ever telling you. You would have become bound by the terms of the agreement even if you just wanted to test drive the software to see if it worked for you."

UCITA would have permitted software developers to put code called "black holes" into the software that would allow them to shut down or disable the software if the user violated the licensing agreement, said Riva Kinstlick, vice president of government affairs with Prudential.