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From: elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: What a dongle is (Was Re: Copy protection: boycott it!)
Message-ID: <1266@killer.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Aug-87 02:27:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: killer.1266
Posted: Sat Aug  1 02:27:41 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Aug-87 09:45:57 EDT
References: <776@cod.UUCP>
Organization: Bayou Telecommunications
Lines: 29

in article <776@cod.UUCP>, rupp@cod.UUCP (William L. Rupp) says:
> 
> Come, come, the concept of licensing a product vs. outright sale of
> a product can't be that hard to understand.  Ford Motor Company sells
> Fords outright because there is no danger of anyone replicating
> automobiles in their garages.  Software is different.  "Buying" software
> is much like buying a book.  

Exactly. When I buy Steven Brust's latest creation at the local B. Dalton, I
can loan it to my friends, I can sell it to someone else, etc. However, under
the Copyright Act of 1978, I cannot make and distribute copies (except for
"fair use", which has generally been interpreted as meaning reviewers can use
excerpts in their reviews, profs can quote parts of copyrighted technical
papers, etc.). The copyright owner has full rights of reproduction, marketing,
modification, and sundry other such things. It is not necessary to invoke a
ficticious contract between you and the purchaser, when the purchaser went up
to a software store and bought the software just like he buys tomatoes and
bread at the local supermarket. That's a sale. To quote a former judge, "if it
talks like a dog, barks like a dog, and walks like a dog, by gum, it IS a
dog!". 

Every product that Bayou Telecommunications sells is protected by copyright.
We have no need for ficticious contracts which aren't worth the paper they're
written on....
--
Eric Green   elg%usl.CSNET     Ollie North for President:
{cbosgd,ihnp4}!killer!elg      A man we can believe (in).
Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191      
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