Re: Utterly imbecile pinky communist Ninth Circuit 'judges' (Vernor scandalous ruling)

[Alexander Terekhov]

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/legal-briefing-you-dont-own-your-software-so-you-cant-resell/19630146/

"Legal Briefing: You Don't Own Your Software, So You Can't Resell It

By ABIGAIL FIELD

Posted 8:30 PM 09/12/10 Company News, Technology, Columns 

A daily look at legal news and the business of law:

Autodesk Wins Appeal: Software Is Licensed, Not Sold

Timothy Vernor ran a store on eBay where he sold secondhand software,
including products by Autodesk (ADSK) that he had purchased at yard and
office sales. According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, what
Vernor did is illegal. That's because, the court ruled that when the
people and companies who sold Vernor the Autodesk products "bought" the
software, they actually didn't -- instead, they licensed it. Since they
licensed it, they didn't have any right to resell it to Vernor, who also
didn't have the right to resell it on eBay. 

The license agreement that Autodesk distributed with its software was so
powerful, the court ruled, that Vernor (and his predecessor purchasers)
didn't have to open the sealed software package, install the software
and accept the terms of the agreement to be bound by it. Simply
"purchasing" the box of software was sufficient. 

Vernor's attorneys at Public Citizen say Vernor will ask the whole Ninth
Circuit to consider the case because this decision was rendered by a
panel. If he loses at that stage, he may take it to the Supreme Court.
And if he were to lose there, then a longstanding, commonsense part of
copyright law will be destroyed. 

Copyright law allows people who bought copyrighted material to resell it
as long as no copies are made, under the "First Sale Doctrine." If you
own it, you can dispose of it as you wish: sell it, loan it, whatever.
It's the principle that allows libraries to loan books.

As Public Citizen notes, since any copyright owner can distribute any
"fine print" document with its copyrighted work that it wants, nothing
stops music, video, book or other copyright holders from attaching
similar license "agreements," which would jeopardize all sorts of resale
markets. Even Autodesk's attorney acknowledged that e-book owners might
do that, reported Am Law Litigation Daily. As books increasingly shift
toward the electronic medium, it's possible to imagine a world in which
libraries can't loan out lots of titles. Way to go, Ninth Circuit. 

This isn't the first time the Ninth Circuit has undermined the First
Sale Doctrine. Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
have both urged the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit's holding
that the First Sale Doctrine doesn't apply in the context of goods made
overseas. In that case the court decided that if the good was made
overseas, it wasn't made pursuant to U.S. copyright law, and so the
First Sale Doctrine doesn't apply. That decision also affects resellers,
whether on eBay or Main Street, because so many goods are made
overseas."

regards,
alexander.

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