Re: Asimov Site

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Frank Townsend wrote in message
<2Pyo5.1869$hg.175400@dca1-nnrp2.news.digex.net>...
>I think the original poster was referring not to copyright, but to
>restrictive EULA (shrinkwrap) agreements.
>
>While some of these agreements have been upheld, the one restricting resale
>has been regarded as unconscionable, unenforceable, and, as you indicate,
>violative of the "first sale" provision of the Copyright Act.


Frank,
    I do not wish to start an argument. In the strictest sense, everything
you say is correct. However, that only applies if the copyrighted materials
are "bought". It has long been the desire of softco's that they license
their products rather than outright sale. In some cases, they have managed
to do so quite easily, in others, particularly consumer software, they have
had trouble making it clear to everyone that it is licensed, not sold. The
momentum is is their direction, and maybe within a decade, it will be the
norm that you 'license' copyrighted materials, instead of buying them. All
they have to do, is tie it to a particular machine, and any attempt to force
it to run on another machine violates DMCA. Also, when this is the norm, the
climate for those that resell older historical software despite its eula
will chill rather quickly, wouldn't you say? What doesn't hold up now might
just be enforceable in the near future. But since the goverment says so, it
must be a good thing.

John