Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!cadre!pitt!cisunx!ejkst
From: ejkst@cisunx.UUCP (Eric J. Kennedy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Used DPAINT [I & II] for sale
Message-ID: <17552@cisunx.UUCP>
Date: 15 Apr 89 01:35:15 GMT
References: <16386@oberon.USC.EDU> <6789@ecsvax.UUCP> <16404@oberon.USC.EDU> <16958@cup.portal.com> <16459@oberon.USC.EDU> <17050@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: ejkst@unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu (Eric J. Kennedy)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Sys
Lines: 65

In article <17050@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes:
>The EA software in question (the Deluxe Paint series) is clearly copyrighted
>and protected by US Federal law.  The last page of the DP-II manual states:
>
>        "SOFTWARE (c) 1986 ELECTRONIC ARTS"

Pick up any book.  On one of the first pages it will say "Copyright (C)
19?? Foo, Bar, and Co."  Does that mean you can't sell it again?  Even
if you bought the second edition of the book?  Even if the publisher
gave you a discount on the second edition because you were a loyal
custormer?

[<rrrriiiing!  rrriiing!>  "Hello, Frank's used books."  "This is the
police.  This is a raid.  We've got the joint surrounded.  Come out with
your hands up!]

Of course not.

>To put things into perspective, how would Marco feel if I choose to upgrade my
>A-Talk-Plus to A-Talk-III for $25 (or whatever the fee is), then I sell my
>"original" copies of A-Talk and A-Talk-Plus for $20 and $40 respectively?  :-)

Well, since Atalk, Atalk Plus, and Atalk III are all separate products,
the same as Dpaint, Dpaint II, and Dpaint III are, I suspect he
wouldn't mind.  After all, there were two programs bought, (say Atalk
Plus and Atalk III), and two programs in use (your friend who bought it
from you uses Atalk plus and you use Atalk III).  Sounds fair to me.

The fact that you got a discount on Atalk III seems pretty irrelevant to
me.  I could probably get just as much of a discount by calling Abel
Supply.

>I sure wouldn't brag about paying $250/hour for such advice as Marco claims to
>receive from his counsel.

Not an attack on Marco, huh?

>SUMMARY: Software upgrades (at a discounted price) are a courtesy and NOT an
>occasion to profiteer.

But, what you're calling a "software upgrade" isn't really a software
upgrade, at least in this case.  DPaint II is a completely different
product than DPaint III.  I can still go buy DPaint II.  They just
happen to be by the same company, and, I presume, the same author(s).
EA simply offers a discount to their established customers in an effort
to spark business.  Not the same thing as a software upgrade at all.

In fact, as I understand it, there are some financial reasons why
software companies go to the trouble of calling something "Superzappo
Plus" to distinguish it from the original "Superzappo" and make it a
different product.  Now is it the same product or is it a new one?  You
can't have it both ways.

Now, if you were talking about upgraded (i.e. fixed or enhanced)
versions of the *same product*, then of course you're right.  If they
fixed some bugs in DPaint III (I just assume there's a few) and called
it DPaint III version 1.01, and sent it to all registered users for a
small fee, then it would *not* be ok to sell the original version.

Now, I suppose there needs to be a dividing line here somewhere.  Where,
I don't know.

-- 
Eric Kennedy
ejkst@cisunx.UUCP