US Federal Appeals: "No 1st Sale Doctrine for Software"

[Freyar]

2. The RIAA has nothing to do with software only music...

 

That doesn't meant he RIAA won't push hard to get the same status as software. We're talking about a group that wants radios (and thus royalty revenue) in every piece of electronic equipment.

[Asytra]

This ruling is actually worse for software companies than they realize.

 

People who buy used games also buy DLC. These people will just turn to piracy instead, likely pirating DLC as well.

[Asytra]

Why put media into a different category? Pure folly' date=' is what this is.[/quote']

 

Because media, more specifically digital media, doesn't degrade.

 

I disagree.

 

The actual disc media does degrade. If it's stored on a hard-disk, well... they degrade too. But we're talking about the first sale here, right? So yes, discs DO degrade.

[Nbokkri]

2. The RIAA has nothing to do with software only music...

 

That doesn't meant he RIAA won't push hard to get the same status as software. We're talking about a group that wants radios (and thus royalty revenue) in every piece of electronic equipment.

 

There's quite a bit of a difference between the RIAA being able to enforce anything and a software organization being able to enforce something. Software can track usage, requires updates, and has many active features while music is just flat data. Even if the RIAA somehow got music, movies, or any other flat data to fall in the same category as software how would they enforce it any better than they do trying to tag music pirates (which they are horrible at btw)? And for that matter how many people buy used CDs/music? Most people I know buy their music either from a store that cells new CDs or from an online distributer which would be the same as buying something new. The only exception I can think of are vinyl records and old tapes, but the major record companies associated with the RIAA don't even produce those anymore, so I doubt they'd be scrounging around garage sales trying to peg someone.

 

The problem with being paranoid about the RIAA or any other private copyright enforcement agency is that there are too many people in the world with a computer, the Internet, and just day-to-day friends. It costs too much money to catch everyone (or anyone) and if someone decides to fight back it costs them much more than they gain. It pretty much all works off of fear, so as long as you just ignore them they lose.

[Freyar]

I disagree.

 

The actual disc media does degrade. If it's stored on a hard-disk, well... they degrade too. But we're talking about the first sale here, right? So yes, discs DO degrade.

 

Yes, but with the literal intepretation of this ruling, you are permitted to sell the physical disc, but not permitted to transfer the license which is what happens to be more valuable than 15 cents. The data itself, the ideas put together do not degrade, and that is what is being sold on with "used game sales".

 

There's quite a bit of a difference between the RIAA being able to enforce anything and a software organization being able to enforce something. Software can track usage, requires updates, and has many active features while music is just flat data. Even if the RIAA somehow got music, movies, or any other flat data to fall in the same category as software how would they enforce it any better than they do trying to tag music pirates (which they are horrible at btw)?

 

Quite simply, they push for a use model. You use it, you pay for it. This would in turn push the way to allowing more restrictive DRM that would allow for tracking one's use of the content. Hell, if you buy your music legally, you can't particularly resell it. (Using iTunes for that example.)

 

And for that matter how many people buy used CDs/music? Most people I know buy their music either from a store that cells new CDs or from an online distributer which would be the same as buying something new. The only exception I can think of are vinyl records and old tapes, but the major record companies associated with the RIAA don't even produce those anymore, so I doubt they'd be scrounging around garage sales trying to peg someone.

 

There's a lot of collectors; games, music, movies and otherwise, that buy games and CDs used. The used CD trade is still strong.

 

The problem with being paranoid about the RIAA or any other private copyright enforcement agency is that there are too many people in the world with a computer, the Internet, and just day-to-day friends. It costs too much money to catch everyone (or anyone) and if someone decides to fight back it costs them much more than they gain. It pretty much all works off of fear, so as long as you just ignore them they lose.

 

It costs too much to fight back, especially if you lose. Somehow, some $100 worth of transfers magically transforms into hundreds of thousands of dollars in combination with the cost of actually defending yourself. It's better to change it at the top than to violate it and have to fight it with insane amounts of money on the line.