phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) (02/05/91)
reichard@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Kevin Reichard) writes: >The old version does not cease to exist. It is not used anymore. It is >like a book--which is the proper analogy when considering software and >licensing. You have the power to sell an old version of a book when a new >edition is released. An upgrade is merely a new sale at a greatly reduced >price. > >People treat licensing as this great voodoo area when in fact the legalities >under the law are quite clear. I would have to agree with Kevin. But it does depend on what you get as part of the upgrade. If you get an entirely new copy of the program and supporting files and documentations, you can keep that and sell the old one (under this interpretation). They are distinct things even though they have similarities. Now if what you get is a set up replacement files for a few parts of the original, or something otherwise incomplete and useless without the original, you can STILL sell the original... but you are left with an incomplete and useless upgrade. When you DUPLICATE the old one and sell one of them then that is when you have crossed over the boundary. Look at it this way. What if you sell the original BEFORE you get the upgrade? If it runs, then what you have is a runnable thing. The above is only a description of my interpretation as I would practice it. I am not a lawyer and I avoid watching them on TV because their cases are all bogus anyway :-) -- --Phil Howard, KA9WGN-- | Individual CHOICE is fundamental to a free society <phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> | no matter what the particular issue is all about.