
Autodesk wins copyright appeal (licensed software resale) - jacquesm
http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNN1017657120100910?rpc=44
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teilo
How did they get away with this? Did the 9th circuit court of appeals just
throw out the entire Right of First Sale doctrine?

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tptacek
No, they observed that First Sale never meant that content couldn't be
licensed instead of sold, and applied the test from _Wise_ , which basically
says "if you call it a license and your contract treats it like a license, it
is in fact a license".

~~~
teilo
Actually, that's not the test from Wise. Wise says the opposite, that even a
severely restricted license does not thereby preclude a transfer of ownership
on a copy, and thus the first sale doctrine must apply.

The MAI trio, three later cases, says that anything called and treated as a
license is a license.

The district court ruled that Wise contradicted the MAI trio, and thus the
older precedent ruled. Now, the 9th circuit is claiming that they do NOT
contradict, but that MAI can be reconciled with Wise. My opinion is that this
is sophistry on the part of the 9th circuit, simply because their conclusion
in this case _itself_ directly contradicts Wise. Wise ruled that calling
something a license, and restricting its use, and restricting the rite of
transfer in said license, cannot abrogate first sale. This court ruled exactly
the opposite.

~~~
tptacek
Neat, thanks for clarifying.

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RiderOfGiraffes
Other articles:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1680185> <\- arstechnica

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1679906> <\- Wired

~~~
goalieca
And groklaw <http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=201009101658045>

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logic
HN discussion from when the lower-court ruling came down:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=864521>

