Ebay and Microsoft Fight Software Piracy 208
illeism writes "E-commerce News is reporting that Microsoft is going after Ebay sellers offering pirated copies of Microsoft software. From the article 'The suits do not name eBay as a defendant and Microsoft indicated that it has received extensive cooperation from the auction giant in the past as it tried to ferret out piracy. In fact, Microsoft said it asked eBay to remove some 50,000 suspicious auctions during 2005 alone ... The suits are mainly against individuals and cover alleged counterfeit sales of several Microsoft programs, including Windows and Office XP and older versions, such as Office 2000.'" More interestingly, the article flatly states that MS has no hope of ending piracy. The suits are apparently meant to 'protect consumers'.
Apply the Laura DiDio Filter (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:More M$ Hooey (Score:5, Interesting)
I buy used DVDs because I don't care if I'm the first person to see it or not and I can get a title for 33% of retail this way but about every third DVD I get turns out to be a pirated copy. To be fair some of these are really high quality BUT some are filmed at the multiplex in glorious shakeycam (TM) with added foreign subtitles (non removable) thrown in at no extra cost.
I want to pay a "fair" price. A fair price for used or OEM software is not the same as a CDR with a photocopied licence code.
The desirability of piracy (Score:5, Interesting)
ian
Re:Automated complaints? (Score:5, Interesting)
It all makes sense now (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, I bought the computer, and it came with a burned version of the resource CD, and the hard drive had images of windows XP, Office, Nero, Norton (no, I didn't install Norton!) and several other programs. Mind you this computer was cheap too. I though, wow I got a deal!
But obviously everything on here is pirated. However, whenever I download something from Microsoft, they check to make sure my copy of Windows is "genuine" and it seems to think everything is in proper order...
With the required "call home" (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know, but with the required "call home" for many software packages, I'd be very hesitant to buy any software second hand. I'd be afraid that when I installed the second had software, it'd call home to activate and refuse to activate because there have been too many installs for that particular license.
Paying for pirated products... (Score:4, Interesting)
Pay the Danegeld, never ger rid of the Dane. (Score:4, Interesting)
Goddamn corporate whores are colluding to not just monopolize an industry, but the market itself. That's just wrong.
If I'm forced to buy a copy of Windows that I don't want with my new computer, I should be able to freely re-sell that copy. (Ok, so being software, someone could make a "backup" copy and sell their original. That's not right either.)
Re:Paying for pirated products... (Score:3, Interesting)
Prepare to be surprised.
Back when I worked in a computer store in the mid-to-late 90's, we took in a shipment of copies of Office 97 from a major vendor. As we unpacked them, a colleague and I looked and I said "Hmm, that's funny, the CD-key label looks a little grainy". The orange did look a little grainy, so we looked at the rest. The CD looked fine, printed the way it was supposed to, the jacket looked like Microsoft Office, but the logos looked just slighly less sharp around the edges than usual. We called up Microsoft, and it wasn't legit, so we sent them back to vendor.
Later, I found similar copies of Office 2000, holographic CD and all. Don't kid yourself; there's a market, even if you don't see it, and they look plenty real to Joe Sixpack.
E-bay loves piracy (Score:4, Interesting)
My MS Software Was Pulled Off Ebay (Score:2, Interesting)
I now understand that OEM Software is to stay with the machine it was bought with, but when the software is pushed to buyers that don't want it and are not allowed to resell their unused licenses, that's just too great a deal for the software publishers. I want in on that deal, heck, the mob wants in on that deal.
I think Microsoft should provide some sort of refund for their software that has never been licensed. My workplace has several XP licenses never used because those machines are running linux and it was cheaper to buy them with XP and take it off than to buy without.
Re:You don't own Microsoft software, ever (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/03/11/ms_zam os_ebay/ [channelregister.co.uk]
Chem student tames Microsoft's legal eagles
eBay educator wins
A not so bright Kent State University student has defeated the world's largest software company. Microsoft today dropped its lawsuit against David Zamos, and Zamos dropped his countersuit against Microsoft, The Register has learned. It seems that the public scrutiny over suing a student for moving a couple copies of software on eBay was too much for Microsoft to bear.
The US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio today revealed that Microsoft and Zamos have settled their differences after battling in court for more than two months. "The Court was informed by all parties that this matter has settled in its entirety," wrote Judge John Adams. "Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that this case is DISMISSED without prejudice."
Zamos - a chemistry student at Kent State - received a surprise in the mail last year when Microsoft lobbed a lawsuit his way. Microsoft was shocked to find Zamos selling one copy each of Windows XP Pro and Office XP Pro on eBay. The student had purchased the software at the University of Akron's bookstore and received a substantial educational discount, paying just $60 for the code. After deciding he didn't really want the software, Zamos tried to return it to bookstore but to no avail. He then put the software up for auction on eBay and brought in $203.
Why Zamos thought he could move educational software on the free market is beyond us, but the student reckons he saw no resale restrictions on the software boxes. This, after all, is the same student who was "arrested after sneaking across a lawn . . . with a can of spray paint, heading toward the notoriously large Bush/Cheney sign in the yard of Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff" and then "convicted of misdemeanor trespassing and criminal mischief," according to a report from the Beacon Journal.
All that aside, Microsoft's behavior in this matter is far more comical than that of Zamos.
Microsoft's vast team of software snoopers were quick to notice the packages up on eBay, as shown by the firm's original filing in the lawsuit.
"A Microsoft investigator sent a message to Defendant through eBay's website asking whether the disk containing the software included the phrase 'not for retail or OEM distribution.' Defendant confirmed by return email the same day that the disk did include the phrase," Microsoft's lawyers said. Irreparable injury
Zamos, however, likely did not consider himself a retail or OEM outlet. He just wanted money back so he could buy some beer on the weekend. Microsoft saw the matter in a much more serious light.
"Microsoft has suffered and will continue to suffer substantial and irreparable damage to its business reputation and goodwill as well as losses in an amount not yet ascertained," it said. "Defendant's acts of copyright infringement have caused Microsoft irreparable injury."
Microsoft sought attorney's fees and Zamos's profit from selling the software.
The whole matter took a different turn though when Zamos countersued Microsoft on Jan. 3.
Zamos lobbed a large number of charges at Microsoft - most notably that the company made it tough to return software. "Microsoft purposely established and maintained a sales and distribution system whereby rightful rejection and return of merchandise that is substantially non-conforming is either impossible or practically impossible due to the ineptness of its employees, unconscionable policies malicious intent and deceptive practices," he wrote in the countersuit.
What's this kid doing messing around with Chemistry?
Word of Zamos's battle eventually reached the main Ohio papers, and that's when Microsoft got scared. It offered to drop its suit a
OT: Tiffany is propping up the De Beers monopoly (Score:2, Interesting)
If you auction second-hand diamond jewellery, it suddenly has resale value. Since diamonds don't wear out, deBeers really don't want that, because their fortune depends on their control of the price of diamonds. If you could sell diamonds for anything like their market price, people would be more inclined to do so, the market would be flooded with the enormous number of precut diamonds in the hands of people everywhere and the price would drop like a (shiny but pointless...) stone.
De Beers spend a great deal of effort persuading you to attach sentimental value [edwardjayepstein.com] to these small chunks of carbon, in order to dissuade you from selling them. Jewellers will rarely offer anything close to market price for second-hand stones, because they know if they do, their lucrative first-hand business would dry up.
Re:Pay the Danegeld, never ger rid of the Dane. (Score:3, Interesting)
Which is the same argument that the RIAA et al use, but I still have the right of first sale of the LICENSE, along with the media it comes on.
Well, at least I have the right for the time being...
What good is a win if you can't discuss it? (Score:2, Interesting)
Citing a "time management issue", he literally had to agree to disagree, but now can't discuss it at all. My guess is to discourage others from succeeding as he has done.