On Thursday 25 April 2002 05:18 am, DeBug wrote: > > If I legally aquire a piece of software then I have the legal right to > > use it for any legal purpose. Period. As a resident and citizen of the > > United States, this right is granted to me under both Copyright Law and > > the US Commercial Code. > > You do not aquire a piece of software, you just aquire a right to use it > in certain ways.
Not according to the US Commercial Code, as I understand it. If you walk into a store and purchase a shrink-wrapped copy of WindowsXP (as an example), you are the legal owner of that -copy-. According to Copyright law, you have the right to use any software which you have a legal copy of. Otherwise, what is that $109.99 I paid for? A fancy box and childish manual? Downloading the software from a publicly accessible server is a slightly different matter. But if I can manage to download the software without having to assent to a contract, then I am the legal owner of that copy, and the above applies. Likewise, if the software came bundled on a CD (it is supposed to be Open Source after all), I am still in the clear. The author is given exclusive rights to modify and distribute the software. But the author does not have exclusive rights to use the software. If I can aquire a copy of the software in a legal fashion, I have the right to use it. > > If I have not agreed to this license prior to my aquiring the software, I > > am not bound by it. > > If you did not then you should not have get the software itself :) > If you managed to get it well you were lucky :) If the software is Open Source, then someone can always give me a copy for free, legally. I do not have to agree to anything prior to my aquiring it. Otherwise it couldn't be Open Source. -- David Johnson ___________________ http://www.usermode.org pgp public key on website -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
