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Would this be concidered Pirating?

A

ADHybrid

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I've seen people on ebay selling freeware applications for money but simply stating that "you are not paying for the program itself (which is available for free) but rather are paying for my service of burning the software, the media itself, etc etc." Is this still pirating or legit? Just curious really.

-Chris
 
Yup, as long as they specify that you are paying for their service and not the software, it's perfectly legal.
 
XOR != OR said:
Yup, as long as they specify that you are paying for their service and not the software, it's perfectly legal.
Click to expand...


Clarifying this.

As long as it's not commercial software

Someone selling the "service" of a copy of autocad is still a pirate.

Someone who burns fedora onto a dvd and sells THAT (the service) is not a pirate.
 
Malogato said:
Clarifying this.

As long as it's not commercial software

Someone selling the "service" of a copy of autocad is still a pirate.

Someone who burns fedora onto a dvd and sells THAT (the service) is not a pirate.
Click to expand...
True. The important thing to keep in mind is that it's a service they are selling, not the software. Whether that service is illegal or not is another question altogether and in this instance, it isn't.

Regarding your example of copying software: I wasn't aware it was illegal to copy software. I know it's illegal to use software without a valid license, but I was under the impression that copying was legal. Althought the EULA would have you believe you can only copy them for backup purposes, I don't know that it is strictly illegal.
 
This brings up an interesting point in regards to world of warcraft. I see people selling gold or accounts on ebay, and they say you are not paying for the account, or gold, but rather the time the person spent leveling the character or getting the gold.
 
Draax said:
This brings up an interesting point in regards to world of warcraft. I see people selling gold or accounts on ebay, and they say you are not paying for the account, or gold, but rather the time the person spent leveling the character or getting the gold.
Click to expand...
Which is exactly true. Blizz can, at any time, suspend any account for no other reason than "they were in the mood". If a person were actually selling the gold, and blizz killed the account, they may be liable to replace that gold or the fee.

As selling their time, no matter what happens, the transaction is complete. Even if blizz deletes the account or gold you pay for, as far as the seller is concerned, the transaction is complete with no possible need to refund.
 
XOR != OR said:
True. The important thing to keep in mind is that it's a service they are selling, not the software. Whether that service is illegal or not is another question altogether and in this instance, it isn't.

Regarding your example of copying software: I wasn't aware it was illegal to copy software. I know it's illegal to use software without a valid license, but I was under the impression that copying was legal. Althought the EULA would have you believe you can only copy them for backup purposes, I don't know that it is strictly illegal.
Click to expand...


Copying a windows XP cd that you own is not illegal. (actually, this is even partially up for debate)

Selling that copied CD (even if you are only charging $5 for "copying services") is highly illegal.
 
Malogato said:
Selling that copied CD (even if you are only charging $5 for "copying services") is highly illegal.
Click to expand...
What I'm confused about is the why of it.

Copying the win2k cd is legal.

Selling the service of copying ( data agnostic ) a CD is legal.

What makes the two in combo illegal?

EDIT: Ah, copyright infringment. Right. So let's say the purchaser says he/she has the original CD. Would it still be illegal?
 
XOR != OR said:
What I'm confused about is the why of it.

Copying the win2k cd is legal.

Selling the service of copying ( data agnostic ) a CD is legal.

What makes the two in combo illegal?

EDIT: Ah, copyright infringment. Right. So let's say the purchaser says he/she has the original CD. Would it still be illegal?
Click to expand...


Yes. It's still copyright infringement.
It's ok to charge for the service of 'public domain' copying.
There is a licensure/copyright issue on the 'private domain' copying.


Simple rule of thumb

"If you have to pay for the original, selling the copy is illegal"

One may argue "Well, my dell came with windows free" -- but, the fact is.. NO, it didn't.

or

"My scanner came with photoshop elements 3.0 free" - No, it didn't


As for the "If the purchaser owns the original" aspect.

well, that depends on what the manufacturers eula says.

Are you paying for license, or for media, or for license + media.


Are you required by the eula to purchase replacement media (damaged, lost, etc) from the manufacturer?
 
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