nrg_alpha Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Hmm.. I wonder how interesting things could get from this court case: http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/legislation/news/index.cfm?newsid=16847&pn=1 The issue at hand is when someone purchases a software license, then later on wants to sell that license to someone else. Some software companies do allow this practice, while others don't. Autodesk happens to be one of those companies that do not allow the resale of licenses. Turns out that some guy named Timothy Vernor tried to sell his Autodesk license on ebay, only to have software products listed for sale removed and asked to have his account banned. An excerpt from the link (from Vernor's lawyer): "There's no way for Autodesk to control the software once it's in the stream of commerce. The particular copy of software gets full value up front. Autodesk doesn't ask for periodic payments," said Greg Beck, a lawyer from the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen who is representing Vernor. He drew a parallel with copyright books. Most books include the line "all rights reserved" in the front. That means someone who buys the book can't make copies of it or read it as a dramatic performance to a crowd. "That's different from saying you don't own the copy of the book you purchased. You do own it because you have the right to keep it or destroy it or burn it or do whatever you want to that copy, even though you don't have the greater rights," he said. By the same token, someone who buys a piece of software has the right to resell the software CD, he said. I wonder how many of you guys have purchased software in the past and tried to resell it, only to find out it could not be resold. I wonder what effects the results from this court case will have (which my understanding is that the court has ruled in favor of Mr.Vernor) if an appeal from Autodesk ends up backfiring. This is an American case.. so perhaps it is restricted to the U.S. But surely many companies must be eyeing this thing carefully to see what the ultimate outcome is, and what kind of ramifications it will have on their own licensing policies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 : sigh : hopefully in the next 10 or 20 years companies will finally give up trying to fight how technology has progressed and start focusing on ways to make money off of selling things like services instead of trying to sue the little guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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