Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!dayton!joe
From: joe@dayton.UUCP (Joseph P. Larson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Copyright Info (Was: Re: Version 1.3 is out!) (LONG)
Message-ID: <6250@dayton.UUCP>
Date: 28 Oct 88 15:23:20 GMT
References: <1229@raybed2.UUCP> <3274@hubcap.UUCP> <1825@eneevax.UUCP> <10232@cup.portal.com> <19@ssibbs.UUCP> <756@mailrus.cc.umich.edu> <10435@s.ms.uky.edu> <4493@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: joe@dayton.UUCP (Joseph P. Larson)
Organization: Dayton-Hudson Dept. Store Co.
Lines: 37

In article <4493@bsu-cs.UUCP> dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>This premise is valid, but misses the whole point of shrink-warp
>license "agreements":  They are not contracts.  In the absence of
>specific enabling legislation, it takes two parties make a contract.

More interesting, those copywrites usually involve something inside
that says "before you open me, read the copywrite notice.  Breaking
my seal implies you have read and will subscribe to the provisions
contained therein" or some such nonsense.  You're supposed to take
the half out to read their f-ing notice before you open up and play
with the new piece of software you just spent 2-weeks pay on.

So -- in court they would have to prove you READ AND UNDERSTOOD the
copywrite.  Well, you had to do so before you could open up the package
with the disk in it.  But then you have to READ AND UNDERSTAND that too,
I would think.  Never mind the possibility that your 4-year-old ripped
it open, or you can't read English very well (works with Miranda -- ought
to work with copywrite notices), etc.

The supreme court decided that, by Fair Use, people can make tape copies
of their record albums for their own use in spite of the fact that the
record companies all say this material is copywritten, etc etc etc.
Sounds to me like a similar case -- the more stringent copywrite doesn't
mean squat, but the companies put it there to make you THINK it means
something.

It's kinda like the games at the Renessaince Festival here in Minnesota
every fall: "Play at your Own Risk".  Ha!  Someone falls off a haybail
and sprains their ankle and you can guess whose insurance still has to
pay for it.

Or worse, some thief gets bitten by your dog while robbing your house and
sues you.  -J
-- 
UUCP: rutgers!dayton!joe   (Feed my      Dayton Hudson Department Store Company
ATT : (612) 375-3537       picture       Joe Larson/MIS 1060
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