boris@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com (Boris Altman) (01/11/87)
I have seen that some companies distribute/sell PD software/shareware
at a price ranging from $3 to $10 for a 400K disk. I thought that the rule
was that you can charge only to cover your cost and postage.
Most users group charge very low price of 50 cents to $1 per disk.
I think if they charge $3 a disk they are making profits and with $10/disk
they have a great profit margin. My question to the net is:
Is this legal?
Boris Altman
{ihnp4,ucbvax}!ulysses!boris
AT&T Bell Labscgeiger@ut-ngp.UUCP (01/12/87)
In article <1646@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>, boris@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com (Boris Altman) writes: > I have seen that some companies distribute/sell PD software/shareware > at a price ranging from $3 to $10 for a 400K disk. I thought that the > rule was that you can charge only to cover your cost and postage. > Most users group charge very low price of 50 cents to $1 per disk. > I think if they charge $3 a disk they are making profits and with > $10/disk they have a great profit margin. My question to the net is: > > Is this legal? Yes! What's going on here is that the companies are selling a service--namely, gathering the software for the users--rather than selling the software itself. If that sounds fishy to you, then so be it. charles s. geiger ARPA: cgeiger@ngp.cc.utexas.edu cgeiger@ut-ngp.ARPA UUCP: ihnp4!ut-ngp!cgeiger allegra!ut-ngp!cgeiger gatech!ut-ngp!cgeiger seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!cgeiger harvard!ut-sally!ut-ngp!cgeiger
munson@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Ethan Munson) (01/12/87)
Selling non-copyrighted material is legal at any price. It's the same as selling books by Dickens. You charge what the traffic will bear. Ethan Munson
ephraim@wang.UUCP (pri=8 Ephraim Vishniac x76659 ms 014 590) (01/16/87)
In article <16819@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, munson@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Ethan Munson) writes: > Selling non-copyrighted material is legal at any price. It's the > same as selling books by Dickens. You charge what the traffic will bear. > > Ethan Munson But most shareware *is* copyright material. And much of it comes with explicit conditions of use and distribution, which are blithely ignored by people who make a business of redistributing PD/freeware/shareware.
dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois) (01/20/87)
In article <378@wang.UUCP>, ephraim@wang.UUCP (pri=8 Ephraim Vishniac x76659 ms 014 590) writes: > In article <16819@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, munson@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Ethan Munson) writes: > > Selling non-copyrighted material is legal at any price. It's the > > same as selling books by Dickens. You charge what the traffic will bear. > > > > Ethan Munson > > But most shareware *is* copyright material. And much of it comes with > explicit conditions of use and distribution, which are blithely ignored > by people who make a business of redistributing PD/freeware/shareware. If it's public domain, not so. Public domain software cannot be restricted. Public domain and copyright are mutually exclusive. (I once, when young and foolish, put a copyright notice in a program that I also declare public domain. It doesn't parse.) Putting something in the public domain is, I believe, equivalent to stating that you lose control over it. --- Paul DuBois UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois | ARPA: dubois@easter --+-- dubois@rhesus | | "Don't we have enough madmen around here already?" I Samuel 21:15
berger@clio.UUCP (01/22/87)
But shareware programs are explicitely NOT offered for public domain. There's a difference between "permission to dis- tribute for free under specific conditions" and "public domain".