"Microsoft Word non-commercial use"

we will debate later, I've got to get to bed.

You can say that again

joey, I realize that the sheer stupidity of the modern copyright system can be hard to comprehend, but yes, that is how it is.

I didn't get it at first.

edited 2nd Aug '11 7:59:11 AM by USAF713

There is a major difference between owning the physical item and owning the copyright to a work.

Let's return to the book analogy. If you buy a book from a store, then that physical object is your personal property and you can do whatever you want with the item. Read it, burn it, sell it, give it away, whatever. If you own a rare book, you can profit by selling it for more than you paid. Those are all your rights as an owner of that object.

BUT you are not legally permitted to make copies of works under copyright and sell them. You are not allowed to copy somebody else's copyrighted work and profit by passing it off as your own. That is infringement. Likewise you can't legally use the information contained on the disk or documentation in a manner inconsistent with the EULA.

The item is yours. The information is not.

Edit: Or here's another example. If a theater company wants to perform a play that's under copyright, they need to pay either the author or a service that licenses use of the play (such as Dramatists Play Service). The company provides copies of the script and permission to perform the play a certain number of times at that location over a given time period. The physical scripts become property of the theater, and they can keep them, mark them up, and use them however they want. But if they perform the play more than the allowed number of times, they are in violation of copyright.

edited 2nd Aug '11 9:32:00 AM by Lawyerdude

The system is incredibly stupid, but the question is how do you enfroce it? If I were to write a book using home how could they tell?

They can't, obviously. You have to be pretty blatant about it to get yelled at.

Dunno if this is offtopic. If it is, please disregard.

If I violate the EULA, taken to court and found guilty, what could happen? Maybe serve time? Pay a fine? What's the worst case scenario?

For simple EULA violations, remedies are usually civil in nature and involve forfeiture of the product and possibly any proceeds you earned from your illicit use of it, plus a fine. For violations that invoke actual copyright laws, including the DMCA, you're talking about criminal penalties as well as civil fines, which can include jail time.

So really the answer to your question is Yes.

edited 2nd Aug '11 11:13:46 AM by Fighteer

Copyright law to doesn't not apply to EUL As, it refers simply to the right to copy software*

You're talking about Fair Use doctrine, which has been challenged by the DMCA anyway. Let's say you want to "back up" your DVD's — if you have to crack their copy protection to do so, you've just broken the law.

if you have to crack their copy protection to do so, you've just broken the law.

since when was that a crime?

Can't you hook up a TV so that, while one DVD is playing on it, another machine records the footage onscreen onto another DVD?

Since the U.S. Congress made it a crime. If you live in the United States, of course.

HDMI/HDCP connections are supposed to be set up in such a way as to prevent that. You can get a low-quality standard resolution signal to copy, of course, but you can't intercept and copy an HD stream from player to TV.

Are you flipping serious? That's like selling some one box and saying it's a crime to open it.

Well, I find it interesting and a welcome note that the UK is developing saner copyright laws that protect backups and parodies.