Quote:
Originally Posted by Who are you?
The "you're not buying it, you're licensing it"-argument doesn't usually hold up in court, especially not if the product comes on a physical medium, is bought in a real store, or if it says on the website "buy now" or similar.
Also some states and countries have consumer protection laws that specifically state consumers have the right to sell things they own, and you can force companies that have tied a digital product to you to transfer that tie to whoever you sell it to.
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Well, that depends on the court and the circumstances. If I buy a full CD of a program (not an upgrade), and later I decide to sell that CD (and not retain a copy of the program on my computer), I may do so.
If, however, I sell the original CD and overwrite my own copy with an upgrade, I am technically breaking the law.
Much of digital media these days is not sold in a physical form that can be transferred. E-books, music, even programs, are more and more frequently sold as downloads.
One of the reasons that the license agreement is a hard argument to make, is that, under the common law, an agreement is supposed to be something that both parties have some input into. It's not supposed to be a "take it or leave it" affair. And, the software companies don't really give the consumer any options, it's more the (1) you pay what WE want, (2) if we catch you using this program on more than one computer we hunt you down and you die, (3) and if you have any problems with the software, don't expect US to fix it.
I've always thought that as long as I'm the only one in this household who uses my computers (I do suspect that the cats download child porn in the middle of the night, but I can't prove it), I should be able to have the same programs installed in every last one of them (understanding that some of my computers are no longer bleeding edge enough to support open GL 1.3 or later). Some of the software companies disagree with them, and I don't give a flying fandango, so we agree to disagree.
However, as mentioned above, it depends on the court, it depends on the country (and sometimes the state or province) the court is located. People are going to be arguing about DRM and licensing of ebooks, music and software until someone more intelligent than the people currently employed to do it come up with a fair and workable solution to the "problem."
Adobe and Microsoft are probably two of the biggest bullies in the market at the moment. Amazon and Apple are neck and neck for third. The hoops you have to go through to use the software or products you legally purchased from them are insane. The terms of their licensing agreements are some of the stupidest stuff I've ever read.
Great, now I'm ranting. I've got five more litterboxes to take out, sift the litter, scrub the box, and bring back inside. I don't have time for this, and I have no idea how I get sucked into the interesting discussions here. I really should block the IP at this end and throw away the key.
Oh, and PS, Zealot ..... how many people you know .... average consumers, who are going to pay several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees to defend their right to transfer media on or not on physical media?? Seriously. Are they going to take that fight against one software giant at a time?? It's an expensive proposition and not one for the faint of heart.