🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <18810.25ff5444@merrimack.edu> rand@merrimack.edu writes:
> When Shareware started making the rounds I asked my legal man about the
> issues surrounding it. He said, "They have no legal recourse to MAKE you
> pay for it. Once you give something away you can't then force people to
> pay for it. Morally? That's a different question."

In article <1990Mar16.025655.23368@agate.berkeley.edu> 
lippin@jell-o.berkeley.edu (The Apathist) writes:
> Using a piece of shareware is like going to see Shakespeare in the
> park -- its creators have appropriated public resources to bring you
> their product, and this appropriation is acceptable since they are
> providing a public service: a free product.

I have to disagree with both opinions. Shareware is not "given away" 
simply because its distribution is informal. The way you got your copy is 
irrelevant. If it is copyrighted, it is owned by the person who holds the 
copyright. If it further contains a clear statement of the terms of use or 
purchase, you are bound to those terms. (I know that merchandise mailed to 
you without your request is yours to keep, and you aren't required to pay 
for it. But BBS or user group library distribution is not "mailed to you" 
individually, any more than a newspaper in a vending machine on your 
corner is.)

Nor is shareware like "Shakespeare in the park". Such productions are 
explicitly free, and the hat is explicitly for *donations*, not admission 
fees.

Please, people, the legal fine print isn't (or shouldn't be) at issue. 
Here's the important distinction: someone has worked hard to produce a 
worthy product, owns the result, and offers it *for sale*, not "for free 
but we accept tips". To use the product against that person's wishes or 
without his or her knowledge is theft.

I expect it would be difficult to enforce the law upon shareware pirates, 
and I'm sure it isn't worth the effort to try. But that doesn't excuse the 
piracy.

==========================================================================
Rick Holzgrafe              |    {sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual}!apple!rmh
Software Engineer           | AppleLink HOLZGRAFE1          rmh@apple.com
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