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Old 02-20-2010, 01:04 PM   #22
Elfwreck
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ecw0647 View Post
The cat is already out of the bag as "first-sale" disappeared years ago as it relates to software. All software is sold under license and if you read most EULAs you are prohibited from selling or giving it away.
The US courts decided that the EULA is irrelevant if the software is sold; the new owner still has the right to sell it. Vernor v. Autodesk established that whether the developer calls it a "license" or not, a sale is determined by the conditions of transfer--most notably, whether it's short-term or permanent.

If you hand over money for expected permanent possession of something, it's a "sale," regardless of what the terms-and-conditions documentation says. And you can resell something you've bought instead of licensed.

Reselling ebooks without making copies can be problematic--but could certainly be done; you could download them to your device & sell the device, or download them to a flash drive & sell that. The fact that you *could* make an unauthorized copy before selling doesn't affect your legal rights--after all, I *could* photocopy (or scan) all my books before reselling them, and nobody questions the right to sell used books.
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