Re[2]: LEGALITY of purchasing Exam Materials USED

Friday, December 01, 2000, 1:35:32 AM, Abdul Aleem wrote:

AA> If it so with the books, I think there shouldn't be any harm doing so with AA> the software.

There's a longstanding legal doctrine called "the right of first-sale" that applies to books. Once a publisher sells you a book, they no longer control what you do with it. You can sell it, burn it, loan it, or give it away. Of course, you still can't violate copyright law.

AFAIK, the right of first sale does not apply to software. Software is licensed, and with the development of UCITA, many of the onerous licensing terms that we tend to ignore are now completely enforceable. A license may prevent you from transfering software without paying the vendor a fee.

This all gets a bit murky to me when it comes to software manuals. Are those books that fall under the right of first sale, or are they part of the software to which they pertain? Beats me.

This right of first sale is actually becoming an issue with respect to e-books. There's at least one e-book reader out there that supports encrypted e-books that are tied to one specific user. I just read last week about a government agency (I forget which, FTC maybe?) looking at this because it tends to infringe on the long established right of book buyers to easily sell their used books.

Best regards,

Jonathan
mailto:jonathan_at_gennick.com Received on Tue Dec 05 2000 - 09:00:37 CST