Can I use unity on work laptop?

Hi. I working in big corporate and I’ve got an laptop from my employer. Can I install and use Unity on standard, free licence? I Just want to learn something, but I don’t want to make any troubles with law.

If you’re planning on using Unity for any aspect of the job you’re paid for, and the company you work for makes more than $100,000 per year (it almost assuredly does), then no. You would be bound to purchase a professional license. However, if using Unity is part of your job responsibilities, then that’s something you would have your company pay the cost of anyway.

If you want to use Unity for personal reasons, totally unrelated to your job duties, you’re not violating the Unity License by installing it on a company-owned laptop. You may, however, be violating the policies of your company for installing personal software on a company device. It’d be best to check with your IT department if this is allowed. My assumption is that they wouldn’t really love the idea of it.

In my experience, it’s always best to keep business and pleasure strictly separate. It’s the easiest route in the long run.

Thanks for quick response. I am IT in company, so I know I can install it but just when it don’t need licence or i bought once for myself.
Anyway, now I know, and start install unity. Thanks a lot :slight_smile:

Being part of the IT department doesn’t necessarily put you in the right, there. Your company may have a technology policy that defines what can and can’t be done, though I guess I should assume you’re fully aware of company policy.

Don’t forget the other general rule that whatever you do on company time and/or with company property may belong to your company and not yourself. So if that’s the case, and let’s say you create and release something that makes any kind of money, and your company finds out about it and discovers it was created with their laptop, they may be entitled to 100% of the profit. In all likelihood that’s a pretty unlikely chain of events, but it’s something worth considering.

In practice no.

In most jurisdictions if Unity is installed on a computer owned by a company, then the company must have an appropriate lisence. Software on a computer is considered owned by the company.

By installing Unity on a company computer, you also make the company subject to the terms of the Unity lisence. There are some weird terms in there, including audit liabilities.

Plus there is the possibility that your company claims all the work you do for themselves. So all round it’s a bad idea.

If you want to learn something for yourself, use a personal computer. Using company resources for personal gain, aside of what Schneider and BoredMormon said about the legality, is unethical at best and might get you fired straight up.

If you want to evaluate it for company use, that’s a different story. Not sure if personal can be used like it, best bet is to contact Unity support (unless someone here can give a definite answer, as in it’s in the license or they asked themselves).

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