Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ucsd!rutgers!cmcl2!phri!marob!manes
From: manes@marob.MASA.COM (Steve Manes)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Shareware liscenses
Message-ID: <600@marob.MASA.COM>
Date: 25 Mar 89 14:06:38 GMT
References: <2214@hoqax.UUCP>
Organization: ESCC  New York City
Lines: 23

From article <2214@hoqax.UUCP>, by twb@hoqax.UUCP (T.W. Beattie):
> The discussion of shareware liscense agreements seems to assume that people
> actually read the request for payment frequently buried in a file somewhere.
> I don't see how these requests can be considered legally binding since there
> is no way to insure that a person has even seen them.

A copyright is a copyright.  Buried in the fine print of a
commercially-distributed phonograph record, CD or prerecorded cassette
is the statement "Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable
laws".  Most people won't even see/bother to read this either. 
Nevertheless, record and tape piracy is a prosecutable criminal offense. 
All that's needed is the statement.  If it's legal, it's enforceable. 
If you don't bother to look for a copyright notice, does that imply your
right to repackage the program, change the name and resell it?

> Some software display a request for payment on a start-up screen.
> I suspect these programs quickly fade into obscurity.

Sure.  Like those obscure Shareware programs, PC-WRITE and PROCOMM.
-- 
Steve Manes            Roxy Recorders, Inc.             Magpie-HQ BBS
UUCP : {rutgers|cmcl2}!hombre!magpie!manes              (212)420-0527
Smail: manes@MASA.COM