Michael Corey

A “software licensing troll” is a term coined by Michael Corey and Dean Bolton, cofounder and chief architect of LicenseFortress, in collaboration with Art Beeman and Joel Muchmore of Beeman and Muchmore. We recognized it as the natural evolution of the “patent troll”—a concept that emerged in the 1990s. A patent troll is a business or entity that acquires patents—often vague or overly broad—and…

I had the pleasure of recording a podcast with Don Sullivan on “How to Start a Tech Startup in 2025.”If you know Don, you know he has a wide range of interests—and he can speak intelligently on all of them. After listening to a few other episodes of The Don Sullivan Show, I’ve become a regular listener myself. Highly recommend checking it out! Here is the Description of the Podcast. Less than 1%…

This is my latest article, “Soft Audits, Hard Consequences: The Danger of Soft Audits”, published in Big Data Quarterly and co-authored with Don Sullivan. At LicenseFortress, we’re seeing an increasing number of companies reach out to us after inadvertently triggering formal audits—simply by answering what seemed like harmless vendor questions. These “soft audits” can lead to serious consequences…

My newest article on the growing threat of cyber insurance on small business has been published. Here is a sample: THE CYBER-INSURANCE ISSUE A relatively new but very consequential issue is currently terrorizing small businesses—comprising 99% of all U.S. firms. Small firms are at a significant disadvantage when attempting to do business with large enterprises or government entities. This is…

The newest Article is out. It discusses the forces that cause great technology companies to disappear. Here is a sample from the article. Digital Equipment Corporation, known as DEC; Peoplesoft; Sun; and now VMware all have something dark in common. At one point, they were all great American companies leading the path toward innovation in the Six Cities of Silicon Valley. They were magnificent…

In 2005, “The Terminator,” also known as Arnold Schwarzenegger and later “The Governator,” uttered the famous catchphrase “I’ll be back.” Twenty years later, reflecting on the slogan “I’ll be back,” it could easily be applied to the current legal battle and decades-long saga between Rimini Street and Oracle. Yet it should not be surprising that this battle continues. More importantly, as this…

At LicenseFortress, we have worked closely with Beeman and Muchmore for the past few years. The combination of deep technical, licensing, and legal knowledge makes it a winning combination. We have talked, at great lengths, many a time about the danger of clickwrap agreements. The fact that clickwrap agreements are legally enforceable. Yet often, when company employees upgrade or install new…

Our latest podcast covers Oracle Java licensing analysis from LicenseFortress and Beeman & Muchmore. We’re approaching 12 months since Oracle made major changes to its Oracle Java licensing policy. In this podcast we’re joined by: Mike Corey, LicenseFortress Dean Bolton, LicenseFortress Art Beeman, Beeman & Muchmore Joel Muchmore, Beeman & Muchmore The group provides their analysis on how…

In this podcast AJ Witt from ITAM Review discusses the results of a survey on Audit Trends with Michael Corey & Dean Bolton from LicenseFortress. They also provide an overview of what to expect from Oracle in 2023 and how IT Asset Managers should respond (note this was recorded prior to Oracle’s recent announcement to switch Oracle Java to employee…

2022 Oracle Ace Award Winners

Having worked with Oracle for well over 30 years, It’s always nice to see my name on the List of Award Winners. The oldest version of Oracle I ever worked on was Version 3. A lot has changed over the years. No one can dispute that Oracle makes great technology. On this list is also the other co-founder of LicenseFortress. To access the entire list…

ITAM Review Podcast Stealth Software Audits

In this latest podcast from the ITAM Review is focused on stealth software audits, I sit down once again with four great guests: Michael Corey – LicenseFortressDean Bolton – LicenseFortressArt Beeman – Beeman & Muchmore LLPJoel Muchmore – Beeman & Muchmore LLP We have another action-packed discussion covering Oracle, audit tactics, court cases, recent acquisitions, contract terms and much more.…

The Weaponization of Software License Audits

Many organizations still remember the sting of being a victim of the dreaded patent trolls. Patents were granted to encourage, recognize, and reward innovation. Awarding the inventors with a well-defined degree of exclusivity for a period of time improves their chances of both financial reward and the recouping their initial investment. “Patent troll” is a derogatory term that describes a…

Software Licensing Trolls: How they are Monetizing Licensing Agreements and Putting your Business At Risk

Webinar July 29, 2021 2:00-3:00 EST Are you worried that your company may be targeted by the “second wave” of aggressive software license auditors (such as Micro Focus and/or Quest)? Are you familiar with the peculiar incentives behind these and other newly aggressive software auditors? Bottom line: you probably should be. Dean Bolton and I are proud to join forces with our partners Art Beeman…

Oracle LMS New Audit Approach..

In this podcast, AJ Witt from The ITAM Review is joined by Michael Corey & Dean Bolton from LicenseFortress and Art Beeman, and Joel Muchmore from Beeman & Muchmore. We discuss recent changes in Oracle’s approach to software license compliance audits, the reasons behind this, and what ITAM teams should do to ensure that they’re…

The Coming Tsunami of Automation

As many people in the world pass through the eye of the pandemic storm, aspiring to survive and experience the sun again, another catastrophe looms—albeit barely visible. This potentially devastating problem lurks around the corner from the big-box store that may have just provided their COVID-19 vaccinations, but it is of a very different nature. We are facing a pending tsunami of…

Covid-19 and Vendor Software License Audits

https://www.dbta.com/Editorial/Think-About-It/Vendor-Software-License-Audits-Have-Been-More-Frequent-Are-You-Prepared-146076.aspx With the 1-year anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown just behind us, there has been a lot of dialogue regarding what different industries have experienced over the past year. Acknowledging this dubious anniversary, we sat down to collect our thoughts and share a few…

Oracle Update Litigation TikTok Jedi and More

LicenseFortress, The ITAM Review, and the law firm of Beeman & Muchmore teamed up to produce Podcast Episode 95: Oracle Update – Litigation, TikTok, JEDI, and more. The host of the podcast was AJ Witt from The ITAM Review.

The Podcast discussed current topics in Oracle licensing in the context of the landmark Mars vs Oracle case. Joel & Art were lead litigators for Mars in that case and have…