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Is this illegal?

Mac_i_Am

Mac_i_Am

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 22, 2004
88
35
austin, tx
I have a 250GB hard drive taken from my Macbook Pro that I am trying to sell. It has top software like iWorks, MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut Pro, and bunch more.

It's not illegal for me to sell the hard drive with all these in them, is it?

p.s. - i'm in the US.
 
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of course it is! (if you don't sell the licenses - with serials & discs - to all software too)
 
I've had the HD for a long time and moved enough times where I dont know where the original disks are.

Now I have to delete all the software before someone can buy my macbook or HD? :confused: :(
 
Mac_i_Am said:
I have a 250GB hard drive taken from my Macbook Pro that I am trying to sell. It has top software like iWorks, MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut Pro, and bunch more.

It's not illegal for me to sell the hard drive with all these in them, is it?

p.s. - i'm in the US.
Click to expand...

it is but who cares everyone is pirating anyways in other countries especially if your to worried about it dont do it then just wipe the drive clean before you sell it.
 
Mac_i_Am said:
I've had the HD for a long time and moved enough times where I dont know where the original disks are.

Now I have to delete all the software before someone can buy my macbook or HD? :confused: :(
Click to expand...

It's common sense to wipe / re-format your HDs on anything you sell because of the amount of your personal information that will have accumulated while you have been using it.
 
OllyW said:
It's common sense to wipe / re-format your HDs on anything you sell because of the amount of your personal information that will have accumulated while you have been using it.
Click to expand...

Many people dont format properly try to do it the proper way 35 security wipe the government uses that option there is no chance of recovery but it takes like 8 hours to finish
 
Yeah, I lose my Adobe Creative Suite, Office, and Final Cut Pro DVDs all the time...

I think the illegal part is you're trying to sell this software that you don't even own in the first place.
 
You dont need to include the original CDs for it to be legal. You just can't use the software anymore legally if you find them as you would have sold the usage licenses to the customer. Its perfectly legal, but only one copy can be being used at a time.
 
The discs aren't the issue. If you sell the licenses with it that's fine. If you don't actually own the license to the software or you continue to use the software after you sell your laptop.... That's called hard loading the drive.
 
if you list the hard drive with the disclaimer that the software installed on the hard drive is for demonstration purposes only and that the new owner needs to purchase lisenses for the appropriate software should they choose to continue using it, or delete it. Then you will have no problems.

HOnestly, if software companies didnt charge hundreds of dollars for software and just made them all $9.99 each then we would all buy the software and never need to pirate it. Sure the software would be less profit for the software companies per indiviual sale but i bet their sales would increase about 1000 times fold.
 
I think Adobe (at least, maybe more) will recognize that the computer that is running the software is different and will require reactivation.
 
Do you know the person you are selling to? If not beware of leaving info in the drive, I'd wipe it.

Nobody is going to know about the programmes. You said you have lost the discs, so you aren't getting any use out of them. I don't know if technically they should be handed over or not, but who cares? Morally you are in the clear.
 
omegaphil6 said:
HOnestly, if software companies didnt charge hundreds of dollars for software and just made them all $9.99 each then we would all buy the software and never need to pirate it. Sure the software would be less profit for the software companies per indiviual sale but i bet their sales would increase about 1000 times fold.
Click to expand...

Really? In an age where billions of $.99 songs are stolen every year?
 
Cyberheart said:
Many people dont format properly try to do it the proper way 35 security wipe the government uses that option there is no chance of recovery but it takes like 8 hours to finish
Click to expand...

I don't think there had been even one recorded case where someone has been able to pull any info from a hard drive that has been formatted with the quickest option. That 8 hour format is pointless.
 
Hirakata said:
Really? In an age where billions of $.99 songs are stolen every year?
Click to expand...

Yeah, i dont know anyone who has ever paid for their entire music catalog. even before the iTunes store, one person bought a CD and everyone would rip it. and before that you record the music off the radio. Music is different because it is unidirection. you listen to it, you dont interact with it.

Software is different. Now i dont know if you own Adobe CS (in any variation) or the old Macromedia suites or even Corel Draw suites, but i do know that i would be more inclined to purchase them all if their individual components were $9.99 ea.

Photoshop for $9.99 each year is a no brainer for anyone. $499 however... nah, i'll find someone who has it and have them burn me a copy.
 
Cyberheart said:
Many people dont format properly try to do it the proper way 35 security wipe the government uses that option there is no chance of recovery but it takes like 8 hours to finish
Click to expand...

The "government" removes the hard drive before selling the computer.
 
omegaphil6 said:
...
HOnestly, if software companies didnt charge hundreds of dollars for software and just made them all $9.99 each then we would all buy the software and never need to pirate it. Sure the software would be less profit for the software companies per indiviual sale but i bet their sales would increase about 1000 times fold.
Click to expand...

Good parenting skills.

"Go ahead little Sally. It's OK to steal from WalMat 'cause they make a $Billions a year (obviously charging too us too much), but don't steal from the nice fellow who runs the corner store because that would be bad?"

It's illegal. Don't do it.
 
snberk103 said:
Good parenting skills.

"Go ahead little Sally. It's OK to steal from WalMat 'cause they make a $Billions a year (obviously charging too us too much), but don't steal from the nice fellow who runs the corner store because that would be bad?"

It's illegal. Don't do it.
Click to expand...

i dont know anyone named Sally, and you know you havent paid for everything on your computer.
 
So this subject seems to be clear. But it is legal to sell a music cd you bought in a store and don't have any mp3 rips on your computer anymore. But what if i buy music from amazon and burn them on a cd. Can i sell the cd to someone if i delete all the mp3s?

So the case is this
1. Download music from amazon
2. Burn on cd
3. Delete files from compiter and other medias
4. Sell cd you just burned.
5. Getting sued by the music industrie?
 
It seems a violation of fair use to do that, although i have never read the law. Good question for an attorney that has read it.


There was a company doing this for a while, you would send them your CD collection they would burn them to mp3s and then send you a link to grab the files. They would then keep the CD's and sell them.

Not sure if they are still around.
 
omegaphil6 said:
i dont know anyone named Sally, and you know you havent paid for everything on your computer.
Click to expand...

The only "unpaid" applications on my computer are licensed "freeware". I hunt them down with as much passion as anyone else.

I have made donations to NeoOffice because it forms a large portion of my workflow. I have not needed to get tech support from them, so the donation was just that. A "Thank You".

Among other things, I teach photography. Any images I use in my classes that I have found on the internet I credit to the creator. I will use Tin Eye to confirm authorship of images if I am not certain where it came from. Or I will find another image. Using images this way is allowed under existing legislation.

Our friends got married in our backyard this past summer, and gave me 3 songs to play. We already owned 2, and I bought a the 3rd song from iTunes to stay "legal".

I buy the Family Pack of Apple software because we have multiple Macs at home.

As a photographer I create intellectual property, often in digital form. I want people to pay for my IP - it's how I make my living. I owe it to other authors of IP to respect their IP.

By being very careful about what I do regarding software and other IP, I can adopt a "holier than ... " attitude with confidence.

I don't know anyone called 'Sally' either, but 'Johnny' keeps getting a bum rap. And I had Sally Struthers on my mind after watching Steve McQueen in Getaway last night.

Bonus Trivia Question: Which Canadian iconic folksinger had their music used in the movie? Hint: He thinks my name is 'Larry.'
 
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