used license

[JasonA]

Some software's licenses are not transferrable, so getting a second hand copy might be tough. I think the first thing you should try is contact A|W (annonomously or whatever) to find out if software can be sold and relicensed.. If so you might only have to buy the software (from a willing seller) and pay A|W a re-licensing fee..

however I can tell you that as a former 3ds max user, Autodesk did not allow the transfer of licenses. I wanted to sell my old verion of max, and they said it would not be re-licensable. I found that to be tremendously annoying. I'm not sure what A|W's policy is.

[beaker]

Sorry, you can't buy used licenses of maya. A/w's license does not allow it. If you ever did buy it from someone a/w will not give you a new license for your machine.

[playmesumch00ns]

You could always find someone who wanted to sell you a copy, and buy their machine as well. Or would you just need the network card? Either way, this would not be legal, you would not get any support from A|W and in their lawyers' view it's tantamount to warez (maybe?)

It's sorta like when you buy Maya, first off you're buying the software, but you're also buying a license to use it. You can sell the software CDs if you like, but that license is exclusive to you and cannot be transferred or resold.

[mark_wilkins]

well, from a practical standpoint you could always pay the $150 for a dongle and then sell the software with the dongle, if Alias is still doing that.

In the U.S., a legal principle called the "first sale doctrine" broadly protects one's right to resell mass-market intellectual property products like software even in the face of some kinds of licensing restrictions to the contrary. So, even if the license purports to prohibit it, it may be legal to sell the license anyway.

However, if you're concerned about the legality of it, you should consult a lawyer.

-- Mark

[alexx]

first of i would consuslt alias about it..
even if it is legal you better ask alias if they gonna do the upgrade or not..

going to court with alias about it wont be the thing you wanna do and it might be a lot more expensive than just buying a new license for yourself nowadays..

cheers

alexx

[JasonA]

I must admit, its kind of concerning that companies try to restrict one's ability to resell software. If there is only one installation of it (the current end user) then who cares? Is it that the companies are so desperate for sales, they can't afford to have someone buy older 'used' software?

I mean, its like going and buying a car and having the dealer tell you you can't resell it... whats up with that?? It reduces the value of my investment cause once I'm in I can never get out. This is why I got annoyed with Autodesk. It forces me to stay in bed with them forever unless I wanna cough up thousands of dollars all over again to use different software...

Its the principle of this that I really have a hard time with..

[mark_wilkins]

Well, I would say that given that the law is against them it's highly unlikely that Alias would try to sue you for selling a used license. Of course, they may not honor an upgrade offer either.

Again, contact an attorney before relying on my opinions on the matter. The fee will probably be a small fraction of the sales price for the license.

-- Mark

[beaker]

I know for a fact that a/w won't honor the sale for any license you bought from someone else. I worked for a few companies that bought used octanes with maya liceses on them and a/w said no way and wouldn't give us the time of day. A way around this would be to pose as the person/company that bought the software and just say you moved locations, etc... Especially if the company went out of business this would be pretty easy. Pretty sure it's not very legal, but it works.

The trouble is your probably not going to find maya for sale for cheap unless you buy it with an old sgi. I see lots of octanes and o2's floating on ebay that are selling with an old copy of maya on it. Thing is they still want a fair amount of money for it because before a year ago maya complete was 7,500 and unlimited was 16k, and two years before that when alot of people still were buying SGI's maya was over 30k, so many are still under the impression that they can get some of that investment back when they sell the machine.

[mark_wilkins]

I did a little research on the matter and posted in this thread. Once again, please do not rely on my amateur commentary as you would the advice of a lawyer:

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47720

Bottom line:

* It's probably legal IN THE U.S. to resell your license of a software package that's generally offered for sale to the public, regardless of license terms.

* The law on the matter may not be perfectly settled, or it may be one of these issues that's in limbo as a result of contradictory decisions in different U.S. appeals court districts.

* It's unlikely that you'll be sued because there's an excellent chance not only that you would succeed but that your success would be a binding precedent.

* Even if such a sale were to be legal, nothing about the relevant doctrine would require a company like Alias to provide any support, supplementary services, or discounted upgrades to the buyer. (It's thinly possible that a class-action suit or FTC complaint MIGHT succeed to the extent that such upgrades are advertised as being available to any legitimate owners of the software, but you'd have to take significant positive action to make something like that happen.)

Interestingly enough, Alias's status with respect to all of this may be different depending on the O.S., because they make the Mac and Windows products available for sale on their website while they require someone to contact them and execute a license agreement for Linux or Irix.

-- Mark

[alexx]

beaker:
>>A way around this would be to pose as the person/company that bought the software and just say you moved locations, etc

that does not really work since i am in a company that died and we were only able to keep our licenses, since we did not move with the new company to a new adress.. (which is really silly anyway!)

mark:
>>* It's probably legal IN THE U.S. to resell your license of a software package that's generally offered for sale to the public, regardless of license terms.

it is basically legal in germany as well, since there was already a law (whats that called.. action?).. emm.. someone went to the court to fight fot his right to resell his old software and he was given right..
unfortunaltely that was a court that only spoke for the part of germany it was in. it was not for the whole of germany.. so you would have to go to another court as well..
chances would be good though..

but anyway.. i think the market is bad enough at the moment that the chances that alias makes special deals with single persons are quite good..
before they dont earn any money they might tend to earn at least software update and maybe maintenance money.. (which is still enough i would say)

- but just my 2 cents: i never understood the point on not being able to sell software from certain companies.. i know what their intention is but i still think it is stupid..
anyway: it is a risk to buy an old maya wherever you are.. it might be that you are stuck with that version forever..

cheers

alexx

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