RE: [dvd-discuss] Postage Meters and the "Right to Tinker"

["Dean Sanchez" <DSANCHEZ(at)fcci-group.com>]

John,

It's a gift.  They have no right to determine the personal use that I make of it.  What if the packaging stated that I wasn't allowed to through it away - I had to return it to Intuit?  Is it your contention that I would be obligated to abide by that requirement?

If it doesn't work without a key, then it is a broken product.  I 'fixed' it for my personal use.  I don't believe that I have a right to sell copies of the 'fixed' product, but I should have a right to use it.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Zulauf [mailto:johnzu@ia.nsc.com]
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 1:10 PM
To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] Postage Meters and the "Right to Tinker"




Ken Arromdee wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 10 Jan 2003, John Zulauf wrote:
> > The gift is a of copy (and thus the right to use) an fully functioning
> > installer disk that includes most of the components of a working
> > TurboTax.  In the EULA and on the packaging are the terms of that
> > right-to-use.  Any use outside those terms is only legitimate if it
> > falls under the general rubric of "fair use."
> 
> No, because the user can refuse to agree to the terms of the EULA.  If he
> so refuses, he has the rights that he has for use of a gift in the absence of
> an EULA.

note the "and on the packaging" quote -- clearly they have communicated
the absence of a "right-to-use" without additional charge.  In absence
of the EULA you still don't have the right to make an infringing copies,
which is was use of the program sans RTU is.

Again you have lots of fair use "rights."  You can back up the disk, you
can reverse engineer it, you can try to extract the tax tables (facts
are not copyrightable).  You just can't run the TurboTax full version
without the RTU (or do so in a way that replaces your need to obtain the
RTU).

.002