Timothy S. Vernor filed suit against AutoCAD because AutoCAD used the DMCA to have his eBay account suspended for selling used copies of the popular software.
Non-transferrable software licences are unfair. The worst offenders are network appliance vendors who insist that the software powering their devices non-transferrable. They want to prevent their products from being sold second hand for a fraction of their cost. If you bought anything else pre-owned you would rightly expect better treatment from the manufacturer. You would receive warrenty service for a used Xbox as long as you have the original proof of purchase. Hard disk makers provide fair warrenty service in allowing anyone to send in a defective drive and receive a refurblished replacement.
In practice it’s a moot point as people (rightly) can’t be stopped from selling the hardware. If you buy any of these items off eBay don’t expect support even if you have everything in the original box. Some companies won’t even allow you to download security updates without a service contract. Shame on them.
I hope Timothy wins.
May 22, 2008 at 9:42 am
Vernor hasn’t won his suit — yet. But he did get some great news yesterday when a judge all but handed him a victory in ruling against Autodesk’s motion to dismiss. You can read about it here.