When Is a Sale Not a Sale? When Software Changes Hands
You probably don't own your softwareeven if you bought it in a box like any other productand you certainly can't resell it.
That's the lesson from last week's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where a three-judge panel ruled in favor of California software company Autodesk and against entrepreneur Craig Vernor, who resells software on eBay as part of an online business he runs....
...Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Corynne McSherry called the decision "a triumph of legal formalism over reality." Under the court's construction, she wrote, "the right 'magic words' can turn unsuspecting buyers into renters, which means they cant claim the longstanding protections owners normally get, such as the right to resell their legally purchased software when they are done with it."
John Mitchell, a Washington D.C. attorney who has defended textbook and video game resellers using the first sale doctrine, called the Ninth Circuit decision a poor one. "I had to read it in two parts," said Mitchell. "I got angry and I had to take a break."...
