[OT] EULA and legality

[Lynn Fredricks]

> Lynn, the problem is that (I believe) in the EU the EULA so 
> called license is actually going to be held, should it ever 
> come to court, as a sale.  And that all the post sale 
> restrictions on use will be thrown out.

Hard for me to add much to Richard's "Bring it On" ;-)

But to expand on one of his points...

Software is disappearing from traditional retail. Many applications that
used to be "packages" are becoming service components, which are directly
under the control of vendors who may not be subject to EU laws.

If the EU tried to make a pronouncement, much of the industry could step
around it, and it would severely disadvantage anyone who complies. It will
simply parallel the VAT collection problem.

Now I do know of a case that is interesting. Apparently a company that
"subscribes" its accounting packages to companies uses a proprietary format.
A Canadian company hacked the software to extract their info because they
wanted out of the subscription model. There was a lawsuit in Canada, and the
vendor lost.

What I think will happen is that instead of some monolithic ruling on EULAs
and sales, instead there will be more and more rulings in various countries
that will shape how IP is treated as a more unique system, rather than
treating IP as a sellable item.

Best regards,

Lynn Fredricks
President
Paradigma Software
http://www.paradigmasoft.com

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