What are the ethical issues if you order a software program and make copies of it for your department and then order fourteen more?

Answer 1

By copying the program you have violated copyright law, but by later ensuring each illegal copy was replaced by a licensed one, you then paid the copyright owners what they would have received had you done it legally to begin with. Since you'd never be prosecuted from a legal standpoint, it becomes an ethical question: do I do the right thing even when it's expensive, and even though I almost certainly won't get caught if I go the cheap and easy route?