🚀 go-pugleaf

Jeff Richards wrote:

> There are two important things you need to be aware of about OEM
> software
> 
> 1. If a vendor is selling it without hardware, they are in breach
> of their agreement with MS.

The vendor in question may have no agreement with MS, so what then?

There may be no real violation in that situation.  Assuming that the OEM
product is "real" (and not counterfeit or a cloned copy) and assuming
that it's product key has not yet been used, then there's no real
violation of "law" if a vendor sells it to an end user, and the end user
installs it on his computer.  Only that last step, where the end user
must agree to the terms of the EULA, constitutes anything resembling a
binding legal contract between the end user and Microsoft.

Just because Microsoft might slap a sticker with the wording "Not for
retail sale" or "not for resale" or "For installation only by OEM's onto
new hardware" doesn't mean that law enforcement have a green light to
look for people violating those terms.  

Microsoft might slap a sticker on their software that says "Not to be
used to access the websites Apple.com or Google.com".  Does that mean
law enforcement, the police and courts can automatically investigate and
charge people for violating those terms, just because Microsoft wrote
them on the product packaging?  Can laws be created that easily, just be
writing something somewhere?

If I rent a car, and the rental terms stipulate that I'm restricted from
driving the car to another state, and if I do, and if for some reason
I'm stopped by the police in that other state (maybe for speeding), will
the police also charge me for violating the terms of my rental contract?

When it comes to OEM licenses (the license that comes with your typical
mass-market PC), clearly Microsoft has negotiated the prices, delivery
and usage terms for those licenses with the computer maker.  The intent
is that the computer maker is supposed to install the software and
attach the license to the computers as they come off the assembly line. 

If the computer maker has determined that they have a surplus of those
licenses, and no recourse to return them to Microsoft for a full refund,
then it's understandable that those licences (and any associated
physical installation media) will find it's way to the outside world via
resellers and other agents.  Microsoft has (in theory) legal recourse
against the computer maker for violating the original terms of the
purchase of those licenses, and the legal recourse would be a civil
matter (not criminal).  Beyond that, I can't imagine that the police
have a legal basis to declare the licenses as "stolen", or have any
basis to lay a criminal charge against anyone caught with them or trying
to sell or buy them.