Re:Selling a used iPod can violate a copyright law
by spinlock on Friday June 22, 2012 @05:58PM
(#4149043)
How is this possible? From my reading of the article, the suspension of first-sale only applies to goods manufactured abroad. Wouldn't MS software be manufactured in Washington state?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Selling a used iPod can violate a copyright law
by martingordon on Friday June 22, 2012 @06:10PM
(#4149104)
This is because MSFT and others have set the precendent that you don't own software, you license it. They can include a clause in the license that prevents resale of the license.
The physical good that software is distributed on is covered by the first-sale doctrine and you can resell that, but it won't do much good because you can't reassign your license to it. If I have a license for Windows but lose the physical disc, I can buy your disc. However, without owning a license, I wouldn't have the right to use the software.
If the SCOTUS upholds the circuit court's decision, I wouldn't be able to buy your Windows disc anymore (assuming it's pressed outside of the US).