Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cica!iuvax!rutgers!att!cbnewsh!mbb
From: mbb@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (martin.b.brilliant)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Legality of "old" software disposition
Message-ID: <4206@cbnewsh.ATT.COM>
Date: 25 Sep 89 21:45:53 GMT
References: <3772@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 45

From article <3772@blake.acs.washington.edu>, by djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor):
> .....
> She purchased a copy of First Publisher, Version 2 I guess, some time back.
> Then she upgraded to the next number (2.1?), and was sent a new manual and
> an entire new disk set...in other words, "the works."  ......
> 
> Her question was, "Can I give my copy of 2.0 to my folks, for playing
> around on their home PC?"  .....  If you actually
> "owned" the software, the answer would be YES, but since you only license it,
> probably the answer is NO.

Read The Fine Print. (RTFFP, maybe.)  The FFP on some software packages
says you have bought a nontransferrable license.  On other packages the
FFP says you can transfer the license if you don't keep any copies.  In
either case, making a copy for someone else while you use the original
is an obvious violation of law.

If you are given a copy, the FFP has to tell you what you are allowed
to do with it, and with the original.  If the original license you
bought covers both copies, you can't give away the original because you
have no license to give away with it.  If you got a new license for the
new version, and the original license is transferrable, you can give
away the old license with the old version.

If the FFP doesn't specify, I would assume you can do what you like;
any software peddler who doesn't tell you that deserves no sympathy.
Look: you paid for a new 2.0, plus a smaller amount for the upgrade,
and you have your money's worth: a new 2.1, plus an old 2.0.  The
publisher might even consider 2.0 as a demo version.  The new holder of
the old 2.0 is not registered, and therefore would have to pay full
price for 2.1, so it's a floating advertisement for 2.1.

> Perhaps there's a general principle here; perhaps it's a variable,
> depending on the company involved.  What do YOU consultants and
> advisors say when YOUR people ask you?

Excuse me for butting in.  All I know is what I R in TFFP.  But that's
all some consultants and advisors have to go by.

M. B. Brilliant					Marty
AT&T-BL HO 3D-520	(201) 949-1858
Holmdel, NJ 07733	att!hounx!marty1 or marty1@hounx.ATT.COM

Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer
	    explicitly claims them; then I lose all rights to them.