From owner-freebsd-chat Thu May 13 15:41:54 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from smtp1.vnet.net (smtp1.vnet.net [166.82.1.31]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B87B315184 for ; Thu, 13 May 1999 15:41:52 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from rivers@dignus.com) Received: from dignus.com (ponds.vnet.net [166.82.177.48]) by smtp1.vnet.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id SAA16344; Thu, 13 May 1999 18:42:42 -0400 (EDT) Received: from lakes.dignus.com (lakes.dignus.com [10.0.0.3]) by dignus.com (8.9.2/8.8.5) with ESMTP id SAA04373; Thu, 13 May 1999 18:41:47 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from rivers@localhost) by lakes.dignus.com (8.9.2/8.6.9) id SAA44642; Thu, 13 May 1999 18:41:47 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 18:41:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Thomas David Rivers Message-Id: <199905132241.SAA44642@lakes.dignus.com> To: chat@freebsd.org, davids@webmaster.com, rivers@dignus.com Subject: RE: BSD, GPL, the world today. Cc: ragnar@sysabend.org In-Reply-To: <000101be9d8d$38c6e120$021d85d1@whenever.youwant.to> Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > > > > You "bought" the software, and agreed to the license terms > > > when you opened the box, didn't you - Caveat Emptor. > > > > That's a pretty fine legal point that hasn't fully been settled yet, but > > the court cases seem to be leaning towards throwing it out. The shrink > > wrap license may finally! become a stupidity of the past within the > > next few years. > > If so, that will be the end of the GPL/GLL, as they are the grandaddy of > all shrink wrap agreements. > > DS > > Didn't I understand that some shrink-wrap oriented laws were working their way through the US senate/house? Even if the law is passed, I've talked with several lawyers who say shrink-wrap breaks some of the fundamental tenets of our english/common-law based contract law... and thus, any law enacted is likely to be dismissed by the courts, eventually. The idea that shrink-wrap seems to break is that both parties read and understand the agreement before agreeing to it, and *before* any money changes hands. Shrink-wrap doesn't give the purchasing party that opportunity; so, technically, they haven't aggree'd to it, and the purchase is complete. Thus, any assertions made by the seller of license violations are null-and-void. Of course, hypothetically, this means one go buy a copy of some shrink-wrap software and begin reselling it oneself, as no agreement was made and the money changed hands... but, I don't recommend that - at least copyright law should prevent it. - Dave Rivers - To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message