Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!prls!pyramid!thirdi!peter
From: peter@thirdi.UUCP (Peter Rowell)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Old Software: what's legal/ethical?
Keywords: copyright, licenses
Message-ID: <491@thirdi.UUCP>
Date: 4 Jan 90 19:45:14 GMT
References: <1990Jan4.152944.8744@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>
Reply-To: peter@thirdi.UUCP (Peter Rowell)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Third Eye Software, Menlo Park, CA
Lines: 20

In article <1990Jan4.152944.8744@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> doug%mathel@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Doug James) writes:
>Purely hypothetical question:
>I buy a copy of GreatSoftware, version 1.0, for the going rate of $250.
>Two years later, I pay $50 for an upgrade to version 2.0,
>which retails for $300.
>May I give away my version 1.0?  May I sell it?  To put it another way,
>do I own two copies of the software, or a single copy in two different
>flavors?

Interesting question.  Speaking as a developer, I would say that you
own one right-to-use (RTU) license, which has been upgraded from RTU
v1.0 to RTU v2.0, with the additional RTU any previous versions you
might have acquired legally.  Since continued legal possesion of v1.0
would be a side effect of your RTU v2.0, you would not be able to
perform any transfer of ownership (for money or otherwise) of v1.0.

Some companies might go so far as to request/require that you return
v1.0.  I would not be surprised if the update arrived with some sort of
license (or ammendment to your existing license) spelling out the
status of v1.0.