slash.dot & Others DiscussVernor vs Autodesk

This is an important case, folks. Question is if the complainant has the resources to see it through to a conclusion that definitively defines the rights of buyers in the murky world of license sales.

Lots of legal arguments being made here: eBay Seller Sues Autodesk for $10 Million with 235 comments and counting.

The Inquirer notices the story at AECnews.com: Autodesk sued over Ebay antics [shorely antiques? Ed.].

Evan Yares' analysis here: Old copies of AutoCAD.

Techdirt: Autodesk Sued By eBay Seller For Pretending Right Of First Sale Doesn't Exist.

Boing Boing: eBay seller sues Autodesk for the right to sell used AutoCAD.

The original at AECnews.com: eBay Seller Sues Autodesk for $10 Million.

A bit slow, but The Register finally chimes in: Lawyerless eBayer sues Autodesk over garage-sale miracle.

Several of these links have extensive discussions over whether American software companies have (do not have) the right to impose anything they wish on purchasers of the software.

Comments

[weewilly]

Seems like we have come to a critical part in what we think we own when we buy something like a CAD application. I'm sure All the CAD Companies are all listening to this ongoing litigation and we will All just have to sit it out to see what is going to be a final decision if any is to come. Most likely this will just die away but the question will remain. "Do we truly own what we buy?"

[Deelip Menezes]

I liked this comment:

"The same thing happened to me. I tried to sell a legitimate, legal, uncopied, in-the-box copy of ACAD2000 and had the sale pulled by Ebay. Ebay threatened to pull my account if I ever tried listing AutoDesk software for sale again. I thought about auctioning a drafting pencil and giving away a copy of ACAD2000, but never did it."