Soon everyone will follow Apple's lead - offering software as downloads and not sell it on physical media as is the case with Final Cut X and the various add-ons ... allowing only the original purchaser to register. It looks like any new versions of iLife, Aperture and Logic will also only be sold in the App store. Apple's EULA specifically states right in the beginning that your license is non-exclusive and non-transferrable. It won't be long before Adobe wipes out all physical media and goes full on with download and cloud services in an effort to thwart software pirates and hopefully (for them) boosting the bottom line by limiting the number of prior versions on the market. It sucks, but the days of selling the old version of a program to fund the new one are coming to an end.
There was also a US Supreme Court ruling in March that is related. It is referenced by the article the OP posted:
On March 19, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, a landmark copyright case examining the reach of the “first sale” doctrine. Under that doctrine, the owner of a copy of a work that was “lawfully made” in accordance with U.S. copyright law “is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose” of it. For instance, if you purchase a lawfully produced music CD or movie DVD in the United States, you are free to later sell it at a garage sale, donate it to a library or loan it to a friend....Show more →
ciprian.trofin wrote:
The article is about digital music tracks, not software in general.
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“This will profoundly affect the economics of any digital re-sale marketplace,” by limiting what can be sold as “used” or forcing sellers to obtain copyright holders’ approval before transacting business, said Bill Rosenblatt, president of consulting firm GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies.
The music industry might have brought the case but the implications are clear...as summed up above. The relevant words are 'digital resale'...not digital music resale. It is about selling on a digital file or files bought on media like CDs vs being able to sell on those same digital files if purchased as a download only.
All this about physical copies and facilitators and whatnot is a red herring. Suppose I have an MP3 I am no longer using so I decide to sell it. Sure, it's easier than with tangible items to do things like hang on to a pirate copy after the original's been sold, or to sell the same thing to two people. Such things are already illegal and unethical. In going overboard trying to prevent such abuses, we only serve to trample the property rights of those who would carry out the transaction in a legitimate, above-board manner.
Corodon, it's still up to the facilitator to provide you the means to transfer that license, they are not under any requirement to do so if they do not desire to. This is the nature of the free market, you can sell whatever product you wish provided you adhere to the laws and regulations. Eventually we might see some kind of bill or 'digital consumers bill of rights' type of thing pass congress, but until then this is the system we have. Trying to regulate something at too early of a stage can kill it off, think of what would have happened if congress had tried to regulate the internet in its early days.
It's like if you buy a yearly pass to Disneyland, you can physically give the pass to someone else, but it won't be of any use to them since they are going to check your identity before letting you into the park. Software can be made to work like this too, even today.
It would be even possible to do this kind of thing with hardware, ie. imagine a camera or a lens that worked this way. But it would likely cause so much of an uproar (and negative PR) for the company that they would never be so dumb as to attempt something again.
Apr 02, 2013 at 04:58 PM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Access wrote:
Corodon, it's still up to the facilitator to provide you the means to transfer that license, they are not under any requirement to do so if they do not desire to. This is the nature of the free market, you can sell whatever product you wish provided you adhere to the laws and regulations. Eventually we might see some kind of bill or 'digital consumers bill of rights' type of thing pass congress, but until then this is the system we have. Trying to regulate something at too early of a stage can kill it off, think of what would have happened if congress had tried to regulate the internet in its early days.
It's like if you buy a yearly pass to Disneyland, you can physically give the pass to someone else, but it won't be of any use to them since they are going to check your identity before letting you into the park. Software can be made to work like this too, even today.
It would be even possible to do this kind of thing with hardware, ie. imagine a camera or a lens that worked this way. But it would likely cause so much of an uproar (and negative PR) for the company that they would never be so dumb as to attempt something again....Show more →
If you like to transfer your Adobe License. Then you just print out their document for this. Then fill it in and send it to Adobe. It takes a few days and the license for your Adobe software is transfered to the new owner. You can also do all this on-line and send the document to Adobe this way.
