djd@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Dave D'Souza) (12/14/86)
I just received a catalog from a software rental company in Canada.
They rent MacIntosh software at $15 a disk, Apple // software at $8,
and IBM PC software at $10 a disk. This sounds similar to all the
other companies, right? But what this company does is to provide the
buyer with COPIES of the original disks sans any documentation. They
then ask the buyer to erase the floppies after 21 days. Also, the
cost is by the disk, thus, if a single program needs 2 disks, for
example, you pay $30 for Mac software. This company seems to have all
the latest software including all Microsoft and Lotus products. Also,
they are RENTING public domain software such as Red Ryder and a disk
with Finder 4.1 (Apple, are you there?), Megaroids, and BinHex on it.
Now, for the obvious question: Isn't this blatantly illegal or do
Canadians have f***ed-up laws where things like this can be done???
Microsoft and Lotus (and many other large companies) should take legal
action if possible.
The company:
The Value Club
#301 - 1084 Homer St.
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6B 2W9
Telephone: 1-800-663-8060
Disclamer: All opinions above are mine alone. I have no interest in
the above company (obviously) and I have nothing to gain by their
demise (not so obvious).
--
Arpa: Djdsouza@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
UUCP: {allegra,seismo,decvax!genrad}!mit-eddie!djddudek@utai.UUCP (12/17/86)
In article <4249@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU> djd@eddie.MIT.EDU (Dave D'Souza writes: > ... a software rental company in Canada. > They rent MacIntosh software at $15 a disk, Apple // software at $8 ... > ... ask the buyer to erase the floppies after 21 days. > ... seems to have all >the latest software including all Microsoft and Lotus products. Also, >they are RENTING public domain software such as Red Ryder and a disk >with Finder 4.1 (Apple, are you there?), Megaroids, and BinHex on it. > >Now, for the obvious question: Isn't this blatantly illegal or do >Canadians have f***ed-up laws where things like this can be done??? >The company: The Value Club #301 - 1084 Homer St. Vancouver This type of scam certainly is not new or unique to Canada. If you look in the back of most popular (U.S.) computer mags, you'll find ads for "software appraisal clubs" that work just like the company you describe. As for the lagality of such things, it certainly can't be illegal to rent, or even sell, "PUBLIC DOMAIN" stuff. As for shareware, the issue is probably highly debatable by either Canadian or US law, and must depend on the particular author's constraints on the program in question. There used to be a company like the one you describe in Montreal called "Crazy Teddies" (or something like that). When it got too successful (and it did get very busy for a while) somebody took action. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but they must have gotten pretty badly sued because they changed from a *very* busy place that "rented" almost anything (including photocopied documentation) to a nearly empty place that seems to provide almost nothing. (BTW, I never shopped shopped there but have dealt with people who did, hence my info in second hand.) Finally, as for Canada having "f***ed-up laws" re. software protection, you may be right. The laws governing intellectual property up here are rather obsolete and are currently under revision. On the ther hand, I thought that software protection laws were pretty vague and in flux in many countries (including in the US). Greg Dudek P.S. Red Ryder isn't public domain, it's shareware. -- Dept. of Computer Science (vision group) University of Toronto Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsri!dudek CSNET: dudek@ai.toronto.edu ARPA: dudek%ai.toronto.edu@csnet-relay DELPHI: GDUDEK Paper mail: 10 King's College Circle, Toronto, Canada