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From: friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.sources.mac
Subject: Re: Is a Shareware license enforceable?
Message-ID: <910@psivax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Dec-85 15:44:50 EST
Article-I.D.: psivax.910
Posted: Wed Dec 18 15:44:50 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Dec-85 05:31:52 EST
References: <27@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Organization: Pacesetter Systems Inc., Sylmar, CA
Lines: 34
Xref: watmath net.legal:2647 net.sources.mac:790

In article <27@decwrl.UUCP> wasser@viking.DEC (John A. Wasser) writes:
>
>		Is a Shareware License Enforceable?
> 
>The consensus was that when a piece of software is legally given to a member
>of the public (either on a disk or through a network), time limited clauses
>such as "You may use this software for up to 30 days after receiving it but 
>must at that time either send a registration fee or delete all copies" have 
>no legal validity.  The thought is that since the software was provided 
>free it has the same status as any unsolicited merchandise given to you 
>freely.
>
>Remember: Copyright only covers copying.  It does not give the copyright
>holder any rights to compensation for a work which he has chosen to give
>away.  If the Encyclopedia Britanica people were to send you a copy of
>their encyclopedia for a 30 day free trial, and you have not asked for
>such a trial, you are not obligated to pay for the encyclopedia.
>
	My impression is that the enforcibility would depend on
whether you had known of and agreed to the time constraint *before*
recieving the software. To continue the Encyclopedia Britanica example:
If they *advertised* a 30 free trial period and you *ordered* a set on
that basis then you *would* be obligated to pay at the end of the
period unless you returned the encyclopedia. In htis case the "30-day
trial" really amounts to a 30 day money-back gaurentee. On the other
hand, if they just sent you an encyclopedia out of the blue you could
keep it no matter what, and with no obligation to pay. At least that
is my impression of the current law.
-- 

				Sarima (Stanley Friesen)

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