But so many articles talking about the same thing cannot lie.fmr wrote:Articles do not make law. And lawyers usually are not very well informed about the long term implications regarding a software license. The biggest issue here is not being allowed to resell software, but the consequences to the buyer if the publisher doesn't recognize him. It's not like a book, a CD or a DVD, which are selled "as is", and noone expects any evolution.weedywhizz wrote:Still interesting. Nearly every article at least in Germany points out that software can generally be resold in the EU.
They all must be wrong I guess. Maybe a lawyer can tell me...
Take note that Oracle was enforced to recognize that the sofware may be reselled. In no part does the court sentence say that there was a clause in the contract that said, explicitly, it was NFR (at least, I didn't read it, and probably there isn't because they didn't even thought about that possibility). And the new user is entitled to download the software from their site forever. But what about new versions? What if Oracle comes with a "version n+1" of the product, or rebrand it, etc., and asks existing users to renegotiate their terms?
Second hand software is sold "as is", except if the publisher recognizes and accepts the license transfer. Otherwise, you will be ruled out of everything that is not "carved in stone" in the original license agreement. And there are a lot of things that are not in the original license, as we know (upgrades are one of them - no publisher ever promises upgrades in their EULAs).
Oracle might not have had a NFR clause in their license terms but when a "general" rule has been spoken like "It is generally allowed to resell licenses" then every other license term that has a NFR clause is declared nonsense - at least again - in Germany.
Sure - people are able to read license policies and don't buy software that has a NFR clause but I still think companys shouldn't override local rights.
