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From: ephraim@wang.UUCP (pri=8 Ephraim Vishniac x76659 ms1459)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Facist Licensing Agreement
Message-ID: <827@wang.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Jun-86 08:47:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: wang.827
Posted: Tue Jun 17 08:47:56 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Jun-86 04:02:41 EDT
References: <1012@spice.cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA
Lines: 40

> I found the following "Agreement", relating to the electronic distribution of
> the System, Finder, Font/DA Mover, and other related programs, in a file that
> was in in one of the GENIE downloading areas.  It seems to prohibit:
> 
>	[just about everything, including many common, inoffensive,
>	 even unavoidable practices]

Correct me if I'm wrong, lawyers, but here's what I remember from a course
in Management Concepts (the Honorable Dr. Wm. McKeeman presiding).  If a
contract specifies penalties for its violation, but the injured party fails
to pursue a remedy (whatever the contract specifies) at the first legal
opportunity, then the that party loses any rights to compensation under
that clause (including further penalties for further violations).
In other words, you shouldn't write unenforceable contracts,
because failure to enforce them could cost you your rights.  

Does this apply to software licenses?  I don't really know.  But I have
to laugh when I read this and other Apple licenses that cannot possibly
be enforced.  On my copy of *Pinball Construction Set*, for example, there
is a license that prohibits me from using the Apple System Software on the
diskette except in combination with *Deluxe Music Construction Set.*  That's
obvious not what they *meant* to say, but that's not a legally acceptable
defense.  Legally, it seems the only thing I can do is to replace the
System and Finder on my PCS disk with the *absolutely identical* software
that I received, without license or other restriction, from my local
Apple dealer!  [Curiously, PCS does not seem to have a license of its own.
It's copy-protected up the wazoo, but it doesn't say anywhere not to copy it.]

In a related vein, I suspect Apple will further undermine any rights they
might have sought to protect by this bizarre license (the electronic
distribution one, I mean) by privately telling developers not to worry
too much about things like the "no disassembly" clause.

Finally, I have a worse problem than the poster's Mac-at-home/Mac-at-school
problem: I have two Macs at home (and one in the office)!  Will I download
the System and Finder twice (thrice), and permanently mark every diskette
with the serial number of the machine in which I can use it?  Any bets?

Ephraim Vishniac
decvax!wanginst!wang!ephraim