Leave the Software to the People! Licensing System in the US Gets a Second Look

Posted 10/07/2009 at 2:30pm | by Bart Salisbury

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That’s right, End User License Agreements (EULAs) don’t make any sense, even if you do read them. Not only to users, but apparently also to the software makers who write them, as Autodesk just found out in it’s lawsuit against Timothy Vernor. A federal court in the Western District of Washington rejected Autodesk’s claims that its software is licensed and not sold, which gives the (preliminary) green light for Vernor to sell his copies of AutoCAD on Ebay.

The heart of case is whether Autodesk’s EULA gives it the right restrict resales of its software. Autodesk claims this right because in its license it retains title to the “Software and accompanying material.” U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones disagreed. In his view Autodesk’s license is a grab bag of terms that individually support both Autodesk’s contention it is a license and Vernor’s position he can transfer his ownership to another person. Therefore, while Autodesk has a right to the software and accompanying material, Judge Jones concluded, it does not have the right to regain possession of the software and accompanying material.

Judge Jones’s ruling doesn’t end the case as Autodesk is expected to appeal. Further, Judge Jones gives software makers a way out: if the EULA is amended to include the right to demand the return of the software when the license expires, then software buyers would be unable to later transfer ownership. In which case it might be time to start reading those EULAs.

Image Credit: Darren Sylvester