>>The fact that you got your hands on a packaged software product does not >>mean you can use it. >> > Sure it does. That's what the "First sale doctrine" means. Once I sold > you a piece of software, I cannot tell you what to do, and what not to > do, with it. > >> if that were the case, then If I copy a piece of >>prorietary software and publish it freely on the web, then every user who >>can download it can freely run it on his/hers computer w/o penalty. >> > No, because that's specifically prohibited by the copyright law. You are > not allowed to distribute copies of the original without the copyright > holder's permission (as opposed to transferring your copy, over which > the copyright holder has no say).
>From the POV of the user, I fail to see the distinction - of course the distributer is violating tons of rules, but according to your claim the user is still allowed to download the software and run it on her computer. -- Oded ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
