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That's pretty worrying... and it demonstrate how much "the economy" in some governments prevails against everything, begin common sense or rationality. I mean, how will they make it effective in everyday life ?
Post edited September 11, 2010 by Narakir
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DelusionsBeta: If Darrk Phoneix is accurate, then actually I'll be sympathetic to the court's decision. It's a bit like buying a Stardock retail game, registering it on Impulse and selling on the disc. You still have full access to the game plus any upgrades (ignoring any debate over if Impulse is DRM), while the person you sold it to can still play the game (unless it's Elemental, hurr durr) sans upgrades.
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StingingVelvet: Yes, it is not a bad ruling in that sense as he technically sold software he is still using... that is infringement pure and simple.
The reason people are worried about the ruling is not the specific instance, but the way the judge used license agreements as a way to get around the first-sale doctrine. It's a potential catastrophe waiting within a pretty common sense verdict, like most judicial changes.

I think the concerns are academic at this point, at least in terms of PC gaming. To go back to the Stardock example, AFAIK you can't transfer a Impulse registration over to another Impulse account, so you'd have to either sell an un-upgradable copy or forfit your Impulse collection, not to mention limited activations, Steamworks and digital distribution in general (ignoring Green Man Gaming, but it's not like selling your games on eBay).
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Titanium: I deem that court illegal, and all it's rulings, as it has no jurisdiction in my country.
There, that was easy.

Well said. :)
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DelusionsBeta: I think the concerns are academic at this point, at least in terms of PC gaming. To go back to the Stardock example, AFAIK you can't transfer a Impulse registration over to another Impulse account, so you'd have to either sell an un-upgradable copy or forfit your Impulse collection, not to mention limited activations, Steamworks and digital distribution in general (ignoring Green Man Gaming, but it's not like selling your games on eBay).

That's certainly true, DRM and multiplayer keys have been killing the PC resale market for a long time. It sucks because the only way to get some games now-a-days is to buy a used copy on ebay or amazon, and if one day they disappear it will be sad. I do buy used game sometimes, only old ones though, games I sold and wanted back. Collector's items.
I don't sell games though, honestly the death of resale effects me very little. I'm just not sure it's actually good for the industry to kill it outright.
US law was handed over to corporations a long time ago. Especially when it comes to copyright. I'm surprised such things have lasted this long.
Piracy seems more like a beacon of hope every day.
Doesn't sound like much to worry about seeing how that's the sort of intricasies of a precedent case lawyers would love to sink their teeth into for a couple of years of argument.
I don't see how that stuff is new =?
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When you "buy" a software, you either "buy" the property and all the rights attached to it - back in the days it would cost around hundreds/thousands of dollars from a small dev, or you just buy a limited licence for a few bucks.
Nothing changed since the 80'/90' (except few details about internet access)
They don't sell you a software like they sell an apple, a chair. A software is a service.
Software :
- have copy-protection
- need to be illegal to copy and sell without authorization (else, anyone could sell any softwares without paying the devs)
That's why they added the "EULA" licence, to limit precisely what the buyer can do with its purchase (to prevent commercial abuses).
And now, the sad part is, they're selling licences with a lesser value : the licences we bought in 90'/00' were better licences than nowadays' licences.
( I guess there's a market for "Enhanced End-User Licence", which allows selling your licence to someone else :D)
It's not about "judge being stupid" or "companies violating the law", companies simply decide to sell a worse product, and you can't do anything about that.
Just like after the economic crisis, some firms removed one biscuits per package and kept the same price. People kept buying them.
Of course we had no choice, all were doing that and we don't have the time/energy/money to count every biscuits.
Oh yeah, few of us bought less biscuits, a minority "boycotted" these brands, but in the end, more than 95% kept on buying these products (firms calculated that before making that move).
That's the same with video games, publishers decided to remove several biscuits from the package (offline playing, second-hand market, backup copy and so on) and gamers are still buying them, the market keeps on growing !
Another (bad) example : subscription for a magazine.
* Previous subscription cost $100, one magazine per month (for 12 months) + 4 "special season edition".
* New subscription cost $100, one magazine per month for (12 months). Optional "special season edition" cost $5 each.
That is all.
We. Never. Bought. Games.
We bought licences.
Some with a hardware element allowing us to benefit from our licences (= floppy disks, CD, DVD, BR),
Some with a licensed access to an Internet service (= digital distribution, Steam/GOG/etc)(= the risk of the "double-licence")
What we call "software" are services, based on a licence (EULA).
Anything else is just something the licenser provides to let us benefit from our licence.
. . .
Why do you think they created the GNU/GPL licence ?
Because it's what drives any kind of software !
It may be hard to imagine, but a publisher have a total control over the elements outside the field of the licence. They can go to your home, take your DVD and replace it with a paper licence (with a Steam code, if the licence force them to provide a way to benefit from the licence).
A "gaming collection" is just a bunch of licences, that could be put in a small book.
Post edited September 24, 2010 by Klem