There was always the chance that they misunderstood and thought it was a pirated copy. The 38-year-old, who has been an eBay reseller for the last eight years, said he was surprised when eBay initially shut him down. I just really had lot faith in our position.” “This ruling is a protection for sellers who may not have the resources to go out and get a decision on their own.”Ĭharles Cooper with Cnet News talked to Vernor who told him he was “thrilled, though this didn’t really come as surprise. Your only recourse is to go to court, which is an expensive and time consuming process. “Using the DMCA, companies can assert these copyright claims even if they don’t have much basis in reality, getting sales terminated immediately.
“eBay is the Wild West of copyright law,” Greg Beck, of Public Citizen, told us. Vernor’s lawyer views this as one very large win for online sellers. It is unimaginable that Autodesk will not appeal this decision.Ĭade Metz at the Channel Register runs down some of the background on the case and notes the potential impact for consumers:
You can be sure that not only Autodesk, but most software companies, will take action of some sort in response.
If allowed to stand, the ruling effectively pulls the heart out of the license agreements that accompany most retail software products on the market today. And it’s great news for Vernor who is seeking legal relief from Autodesk, which has repeatedly registered copyright complaints with eBay about Vernor’s auctions. That’s a good thing for anyone who sells or buys stuff on eBay. But the judge ruled that Vernor, who has picked up second-hand copies of AutoCad at garage sales, isn’t bound by that agreement. The Technology Liberation Front called it an “ Autodesk smackdown” and praised Judge Richard Jones’ decision as a victory for “common sense.” At the heart of Autodesk’s copyright argument was the claim that the license agreement included with copies of its AutoCad software prohibited resale. A federal judge refused to dismiss Vernor’s lawsuit against Autodesk and in doing so made it pretty clear that Vernor had a right to sell legally obtained, copyrighted material on eBay or anywhere else. There’s some buzz about our win this week against Autodesk and its attempt to keep entrepreneur Timothy Vernor from selling second-hand copies of its software on eBay.
0 kommentar(er)
