HELP! AutoCAD 2013 Educational Plot Stamp Issue

[Anonymous]

Is there any legit way to remove the Educational stamp from my files? Our summer intern thought it'd be helpful to work on some stuff at home on his personal laptop and copy the details into the project file at the office. Unfortunately, now the project files are all marked as Educational.

Our office has legitimate licenses for AutoCAD, but now we're stuck with this Educational stamp on an entire project... better yet, the intern was working on some of our standard details. So, now for future projects, we're stuck with a pile of standard notes and details that are essentially useless because copying them into projects will only add that stamp. 

There's got to be some way around this, right? We can't be the only firm who has had an overly ambitious intern... 

[hgasty1001]

Hi,

This is the official answer from Autodesk : Educational Plot Stamp Removal Issues

Gaston Nunez

[Anonymous]

So the answer is simply that there is no option for ACAD 2013 plot stamp removal? 

[hgasty1001]

Hi,

That's it, but, you can download a trial 2015, however I'm not sure if the EULA agree with that kind of use though.

Gaston Nunez

[pendean]

Intern illegally used their EDU license of AutoCAD.
You are using illegally obtained content.

Be honest, call it 'lessons learned", pay someone to do the right thing. Once you start cheating, where do you draw the line? live true to yourself 🙂

[Anonymous]

That's a bit of an extreme response... The summer intern is a current student, so there's nothing illegal about his copy of AutoCAD. I'm not illegally using anything. Having been provided w/ a licensed version on his work computer, the intern chose to take work home on his own (i.e. nobody's paying for the hours spent) mostly so he could work on his CAD skills. 

And actually, the content he worked on was minor stuff (seriously, I had the kid typing up notes and editing details mostly) that was pasted into a complete project, rendering the complete project useless with the EDU stamp. 

I am sure this happens often... it seems often enough that the newest versions do allow a workaround for professionals, like myself, to handle accidental copy-paste issues from and EDU version. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's a bit of an extreme response... The summer intern is a current student, so there's nothing illegal about his copy of AutoCAD. I'm not illegally using anything. Having been provided w/ a licensed version on his work computer, the intern chose to take work home on his own (i.e. nobody's paying for the hours spent) mostly so he could work on his CAD skills. 

And actually, the content he worked on was minor stuff (seriously, I had the kid typing up notes and editing details mostly) that was pasted into a complete project, rendering the complete project useless with the EDU stamp. 

I am sure this happens often... it seems often enough that the newest versions do allow a workaround for professionals, like myself, to handle accidental copy-paste issues from and EDU version. 

---

Actually no, it's not an extreme response.

The legality of your interns software was never in question, it was how they used it.  They used EDU software for a commercial project; that's the illegal part.  And yes, technically you are using illegal content since it was created using EDU software.  There's no room for arguing this point.  You agreed to the EULA when the software was installed.  Your intern did the same thing when they installed their EDU software.  You can try your "I am sure this happens often..." line of reasoning with the Autodesk legal department if you like.  New versions of the software have no bearing on the EULA that you agreed to when you installed your software.  You are also violating the terms of this forum by advocating/defending illegal workarounds.  

[dgorsman]

Its something of a grey area.  In the past, there was some limited cleaning services available from AutoDesk.  If there was a lot of drawings or it was requested frequently, it was a short and fast trip to being audited on a frequent basis.

Treat it as a learning experience, for both yourself and the intern.  IP (intellectual property) and software licensing frequently gets that "Well, it doesn't matter because <insert logical workaround here>" these days but it should be treated a little more seriously.  In a business environment, that kind of thinking can lead to conflict of interest problems.

[Anonymous]

I understand your perspective, but I was not looking for some permanent workaround... that's clearly sketchy. What I asked was if there was a way for a one-time solution to fix two files an intern mistakenly screwed up. It'd actually be nice if Autodesk treated it like my home security system... a few accidental "false alarms" are allowed, but then I get charged. Autodesk could somehow allow each license one or two file conversions, then no more.
The kid unwittingly opened them on his version b/c he liked his computer better than the computer he was given here, essentially... (without my knowledge). Any work he did outside of here was b/c he was too ambitious and basically wanted to learn to use CAD better, and isn't that the purpose of the EDU version, learning?

I totally get the legality issues of this...but I think even that can be a bit extreme. When a 5 minute error renders a completed project and it's use in a $5000 program void, it's a bit of an issue. I agree that it's a learning experience, but at what cost? Guess in the future when I use interns, we'll have them on different software all together.

[dgorsman]

Just add it as part of intern orientation.  Its also a good introduction to helping them keep work at the office and home at home so they can have the proper work-home balance.  Far too many eager newbs end up burned out as they try to do everything, all the time, every time.