What Is the Issue in the Psystar Case?
Linked by Nescio on Mon 9th Mar 2009 08:05 UTC
Apple Numerous irrelevant issues and feelings about them are ventilated in comments on the case. However, there are only two important issues. One is what the law is, the other is what we think the law should be.
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RE[2]: Unfortunately...
by WorknMan on Tue 10th Mar 2009 00:01 UTC in reply to "RE: Unfortunately..."
WorknMan
Member since:
2005-11-13

Most people understand what they get, and what they don't get when they buy a book.

They are allowed to read it, as many times as they want, wherever they want, and lend it to friends. They can quote bits of it in discussion papers and essays. What they cannot do is copy it whole over and over and sell the copies for their own profit.

Why should a CD, a DVD or a Software Application on CD be considered any different to this?

What rights do or should software vendors have that book publishers do not have?


Unlike a piece of software, when you lend a book to friends (or whoever else), you don't have the original anymore until you get it back. With software, you can 'loan' it to a friend, and a million other people in the process, and still keep the original.

I'm not here to say what rights people should or shouldn't have with digial media, because it's a pretty complicated issue. I'm just describing the difference between physical objects and digital media. And, in my opinion, it's a pretty significant difference.

I don't know what's going to happen whenever we're able to duplicate physical objects just like we copy a file. That's going to be a whole new can of worms.

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[3]: Unfortunately...
by Thom_Holwerda on Tue 10th Mar 2009 00:27 in reply to "RE[2]: Unfortunately..."
Thom_Holwerda Member since:
2005-06-29

Unlike a piece of software, when you lend a book to friends (or whoever else), you don't have the original anymore until you get it back. With software, you can 'loan' it to a friend, and a million other people in the process, and still keep the original.


Software and books are exactly the same. contrary to what you're saying, it is impossible to duplicate a CD. All you can do is copy its contents to another medium. You can do the exact same thing with a book by using a photocopier or a scanner/printer.

The book is the DVD; the words, sentences, and stories in a book are the movie/program/game on a DVD. There's a medium, there's a message.

People have this weird notion that you cannot copy books, which is nonsense. Sure you can, it's just a lot more cumbersome. However, copyright law doesn't give a rat's bum about how easy it is to copy copyrighted material.

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[3]: Unfortunately...
by Delgarde on Tue 10th Mar 2009 00:51 in reply to "RE[2]: Unfortunately..."
Delgarde Member since:
2008-08-19

Unlike a piece of software, when you lend a book to friends (or whoever else), you don't have the original anymore until you get it back. With software, you can 'loan' it to a friend, and a million other people in the process, and still keep the original.


True for books, but software still isn't unique in that regard. For CDs and DVDs, a user can copy them to a computer or portable player, and loan the physical media to someone else. Yet the question of licensing doesn't come up with those - nobody buys a CD or DVD and has to agree to a EULA before they can listen to or watch it. Where's the law that says different rules apply to software, distributed on the same media?

I buy a movie on DVD, I have an right to use it. I buy a game on DVD, I don't? Why's software different?

Reply Parent Score: 1