A few years ago Microsoft beat a lawsuit over errors in Xcel on the basis that the software was sold, where is, as is, with no implied warranties. It was in one of the states that has really strict product liabilities laws (Ohio maybe).
Some construction company had messed up a bid because of the Xcel flaw. If the software companies are shown to have surviving “rights” in the software even after it is sold, they could also be shown to have surviving “liabilities” in the software after it is sold as well.
Given the amount of bugs in most of the software released today, this could be a double edged sword.
Interesting indeed. Makes one wonder how this could be applied to the resale of for example books. It’s not so much the value of the paper, but the ideas printed on it that gives it value. Also, how will software companies square this with their revenues for “sales”? Did they just sell a plastic disk? Did they lease it? Did they sell the disk but lease the intellectual property? A big ol can of worms.
Exactly. They and the entertainment industry have both argued both license and sale, so they’ve lost their right to choose. I say whichever is the more consumer friendly prevails in any given case, similar to the way ambiguities in a contract are construed against the party that wrote the contract. If they can’t even tell themselves, they don’t get to hold us to whichever is more convenient for them on a case-by-case basis.
Very interesting point.