Quote:
Originally Posted by rlauzon
The author has no such right.
When an author releases a book, the only rights he has (regarding the book) are granted by copyright. Copyright only addresses the ability to control copies and nothing more.
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Dealing with US Law, copyirghts from from the US Constitution. They must not be retroactive. They must protect the author or inventor's right to have exclusive use of their creative ideas for a limited time.
The concept of exclusive use does (only) limit the copying. The problem is that some (criminals) sell you an item, then disclose that you can not use it without agreeing to an "end user license agreement." The problem is that I was defrauded when I purchaed a product (e.g., MS Office '97) to use (e.g., under Slackware / Wine '95) and then I come across a provision in the EULA that forbids my intended use (e.g., You may only use this product on a licensed Microsoft operating system. Any other use is piracy.) Ass-u-me-ing that a EULA is legal at all, and ignoring the unconstitutional nature of the current system of retroactive copyrights in the USA...US courts have established several criteria that must be met by sellers (and are almost never met by sellers.) 1. The EULA must be easily available to the end user prior to purchase. (The EULAs on microsoft.com have nothing to do with the click-wrap EULAs. Microsoft lies about this.) 2. The EULA must not violate the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (which the Microsoft EULA I mentioned does.)
Anyway, this is irrelevant, given the unconstitutional retroactive extensions of Copyright law in the US.
Andy