[Am-info] Thoughts

[John Poltorak]

On Sat, Mar 02, 2002 at 04:45:33AM -0500, Gene Gaines wrote:

> What it came down to was, yes, I "sell" the license
> for the copy of Windows 98 which I had "found" but
> only if I also had the entire contents of the box.
> 
> So, it appeared to come down to this:
> 
>  - If the box shrink-wrap had been removed, I could
>    still sell it.
> 
>  - However, Microsoft would require that the entire
>    contents be intact.  I asked about, say, an
>    advertising flyer for MSN which happened to be
>    stuffed in that box.  Answer was "legally you will
>    need to have every flyer, every label, every piece
>    of paper" before Microsoft will accept your right
>    to sell the license to the product, even though it
>    has never been used"
> 
> This is all nonsense, of course, but does begin me
> thinking about ways to attach through the armor, which
> cannot be perfect in all directions.

It doesn't really matter what Microsoft say you can do. They are not the 
legal authority. Consumer rights always supercede any license agreement.


Actually, it would be interesting to attempt to collate instances where 
Microsoft have taken people to court over breaches of the license 
agreement. In this country, UK, case law is the best guide for testing the 
legitimacy of a license.

AFAIUI the EULA is void in Germany, although I can't find any definitive 
statements which confirm that. 


> Gene Gaines
> gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
> Sterling, Virginia 


-- 
John