Why do you say that they haven't granted me the right?... TurboTax has made me a gift of a CD with their software. It has become my very own personal property and until TurboTax get's the USSC rulings overturned, the laws of most states, and changes the legal foundations for what personal property is they have actually GIVEN me the right by GIVING me personal property. If they don't want to give me that right then they shouldn't be giving me that personal property. And having done so, if they don't like it (e.g., cuecat) then it's their own problem. When one makes a gift, legally, ethically, morally, there are no strings attached. TurboTax is choosing to make a gift and then claiming it is not.
"John Zulauf" <johnzu@ia.nsc.com> Sent by: owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
01/09/2003 10:29 AM
Please respond to dvd-discuss
To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
cc:
Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] Postage Meters and the "Right to Tinker"
Sham Gardner wrote:
>
> In the case of TurboTax, you are not using the data they sent you to obtain
> services they would otherwise charge for. You are using information they
> have already sent you, *without* extracting any additional goods or services
> from them.
You are making good and valuable use of the software, a right not
granted without the authorization of the copyright holder. They haven't
sent you (without circumvention) sufficient information to use
TurboTax. You are extracting the a right to use without payment to the
rights holder. Circumvention changes the disk from a coaster to a
useful valuable product, and a replacement good for any full version of
the software. This is right to license is the "good or service" of the
software company, and circumventing (prior to first sale) infringes this
right.
Can we agree that the TurboTax keyware disk mailed to Richard is not the
complete product as-is? One must add authorization "sauce" (true or
forged) to make it so. The unsolicited good is only the installer disk
"as-is" (and not a functioning copy of TurboTax). The clearly one
would be defrauding the company of remuneration for the "right to use"
a full copy. (RTU's are real products in this industry BTW.)
.002
P.S. I am half in DA mode. I truly believe the ethical side of the
argument, but I'm using the arguments of the software industry on the
legal side.