Federal Court: First-Sale Doctrine Covers Software

[Warm Worm]

Clip: "The US District Court in Seattle has rejected Autodesk's myriad arguments regarding its software licenses and found in favor of eBay seller Timothy S. Vernor. The ruling started by ruling that Vernor was within his rights to resell copies of AutoCAD Release 14 he got in an auction. Once the court settled the legitimacy of reselling, it used that ruling as a lens to dismiss all of Autodesk's various claims. More than once the court described Autodesk's arguments as 'specious' and 'conflicted.'"

[creative1986]

Where are you going with this?

How did he have *rights* to sell "copies" of AutoCAD? I wonder how much this court case cost him?

[Warm Worm]

Well it just seems like good news in general for end-users' freedom, and might even set some precedents for other cases down the road (so the case appears worth some time and expense, especially considering the cost of an ACAD license.)

AFAIK, every ACAD program-- retail or otherwise-- is a copy of the original from Autodesk, but, yes, it appears that it's the judges and lawyers that also win.

For some, though, it's a moot case when there are mainstream cracks (that work perfectly) of ACAD 2010.

[creative1986]

I agree that a person can do with his property as he see's fit, and the person(s) he purchased it from have no say about it.

Don't know if its rumor or not but I've heard AutoDesk offers a $2500 reward for information leading to the prosecution of anyone that has illegally copied AutoCAD.

If this rumor is fact, and this current case proves AutoDesk has no standing, a can of worms will have been opened pertaining to people that have paid the price in the past. Capiche?

[creative1986]

2010 is out? I had heard that acad was going to be strictly *online subscription*, which would throw a twist in the whole thing.

[Warm Worm]

Yes I suppose that's a possibility.

[Warm Worm]

How so?

[creative1986]

The concept was that a buyer would purchase a cd that only contained certain files to be installed on the computer and all other files would be stored in autodesks mainframe, thus a user would have to be logged on and logged in to access the necessary files, which would prevent piracy. IOW, internet access would be required in order to use autocad products. That would effectively eliminate people like me with an undependable internet access - Hughes satellite which is highly dependent on the weather. I'm still using 2004, though I have 2005 and 2006 but haven't installed them. I will most likely never buy another autocad product.

[Warm Worm]

OIC. When was ACAD supposed to go this route? 2010 is here and according to the responses, works:

I doubt that internet thing will ever take. It actually sounds crazy and ADesk would probably see its userbase pancake. In my case, I almost always work with ACAD when I'm away from the net and prefer it that way.

Even so, I still think a live online version would be crackable to use locally without a connection to ADesk, perhaps by analyzing the datastream-- what's exactly going on between the two connections-- and then coding a dummy app/file that then fools the local ACAD copy that it's online and/or communicatiing with the Almighty ADesk. :)

[creative1986]

I've been using autocad since 1994 ans the pattern has been that with each upgrade in the OS, autocad becomes unstable, so I then have to upgrade it as well. Other than R12, I've never been current on the acad upgrades. Now, it appears, I am 6 years behind. Though, I do need to reformat and retool everything cause this machine is turning into a turtle in lots of ways. And, on top of that, I think I mistakenly deleted some kinda system file and now I can't install any software, nor uninstall any, and my ftp app won't connect. AND I have no sound nor can I view any video files. sheesh....thats a lot of stuff now that I think about it. I just hate reformatting, its 2 weeks before everything is back to normal and even then its not the old normal but the new one......

[Warm Worm]

works:

>

I know what you mean and it sounds similar to my computer woes and reformatting prospect.

I had a dual-boot XP/Linux go wonky when I tried to steal some more HD space for XP (and now my Linux partition has vanished, and XP still occupies only half the drive); a few viruses when I went looking for cracked software beyond the usual trusted sites (Haha, serves me right. ;) In my experience, The Pirate Bay's very clean). And I lost data on a USB key (that no downloadable data recovery sofware could retrieve). So I have virtually half a system that's missing things, and after I send this, I'll probably look into whether ACAD can run on Linux using something like WINE or there's a portable version that can run live off USB. I would love to bid a final farewell to Windows.

The cracked 2009 ACAD is very stable for me so far, but maybe it's an updated package or I'm not pushing its limits yet.

[creative1986]

Seems like only yesterday that I had all the bells and whistles, kept the case off my machines cause they only got in the way, and I read any and everything to do with anything computer. Now, I couldn't care less, just as long as it does what I tell it.

I'd like to somehow have my OS on a single USB drive and all my apps on another and all my other files on a rack of USB HD's and my processor would reside in a little fragbox sitting over there in the corner. If the OS messes up, just boot it to the curb and drop in another and keep truckin'....

Any big differences between 09 and say 04 or 06?