Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!utoday!greenber From: greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) Newsgroups: comp.sources.d Subject: Re: Paying for Shareware (Was: Re: v09i070: newsclip 1.1...) Message-ID: <1243@utoday.UUCP> Date: 13 Feb 90 03:01:14 GMT References: <1201@utoday.UUCP> <13946@s.ms.uky.edu> <1212@utoday.UUCP> <1990Feb8.140220.6168@pegasus.uucp> <1233@utoday.UUCP> <10807@zodiac.ADS.COM> <14108@s.ms.uky.edu> <1237@utoday.UUCP> <14122@s.ms.uky.edu> Reply-To: greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) Organization: UNIX Today!, Manhasset, NY Lines: 44 In article <14122@s.ms.uky.edu> sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes: > >I said "software vendors", like the Lotus corporation so fondly referenced >by Ross. They do have tens of thousands of dollars. So does Apple, and >the other people who will go after violation of copyright but to my >knowledge none have taken a shrink wrap violation to court. > Sorry, Sean, but you're wrong. Copyright violations, as in the usage of pirated software, is pretty old stuff and Lotus has won a few times. On the shareware side of things, the folks who put out `Procomm' recently won a copyright infringement case against someone distributing their code without their permission. Every reputable shareware author I know, and every reputable commercial software house will go after a company that illegally distributes their code in violation of internationally agreed upon copyright law. > > >|Balderdash, Sean. Whethr you like it or not, you are bound by certain laws: >|try selling copies of Lotus 123. Give those folks up at Cambridge adequate >|notice. You'll be sued forcopyright infringment. And you never signed >|anything. Tell it to the judge. > >Ross is playing stupid again. I know he's not stupid. > >A copyright does not require a contract to be valid. A license does. > Nope, I keep telling ya, I just look this way. What do you think you;re in violaion of, Sean, if you're using a pirated copy of Lotus? The guy who gave it to you is in violation of copyright law. But you, the poor schmuck whose company will fire him, at the least, for knowingly using pirated code, well, what are you in violation of. Hint: think license agreement. -- Ross M. Greenberg, Technology Editor, UNIX Today! greenber@utoday.UUCP 594 Third Avenue, New York, New York, 10016 Voice:(212)-889-6431 BIX: greenber MCI: greenber CIS: 72461,3212 To subscribe, send mail to circ@utoday.UUCP with "Subject: Request"