Legal Question in Technology Law in Alabama

Internet cafe and software usage

I am thinking about opening an internet cafe in my small home town. Just as a reminder, these are places where computers are set up and, for an hourly fee(about $1/hour), allow someone to surf the internet, chat, play on-line games, whatever. The computers have no floppy or CD drives so that the user cannot put any software on the computer because of virus concerns. However, I thought I would add a twist and ALLOW people to load software on the computer and I would figure out some way of preventing viruses. In addition, I would allow people to use a small set of MY software that I pre-loaded on the computer for an additional hourly fee. The software can be business software, games, graphic software, etc. Are there any legal concerns I need to be aware with loading software on the computers or allowing the user to load his own software on the computer?

Thanks


Asked on 1/21/03, 6:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bruce Burdick Burdick Law Firm

Re: Internet cafe and software usage

There are lots of issues in loading software and letting others use it, primarily the inevitable bootleg software. However, at a small internet shop like you are describing, the problem is too small to expect any legal challenges. Now, if this is to be a franchise thing and expand, you will need to revisit the issue and be sure you have legitimate software on the computers.

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Answered on 1/23/03, 12:04 am


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