> Depending how the original license cost Since the student had access to the software with a more restrictive license, they should have charged only the price

> Depending how the original license cost Since the student had access to the software with a more restrictive license, they should have charged only the price difference between the two licenses (or some reasonable surcharge of that, as you suggested). Also I assume these licenses are multiuser licenses, charging the full license price is kind of unfair. In the end what is the intention of the software company? They probably only want to enforce the license so nobody uses their software illegally. It's irrational to get a revenue from these cases. 1000 CHF from a student I think is a big enough hit to discourage the illegal usage of their software among students, really, and they wouldn't send a student to deep dept.