buying second hand software

HI there,

Is it legal to buy software from someone who has already used it? I am looking at buying a software from someone off ebay.. the description says it is authentic and has the original serial number. Is this legal to buy?

Many thanks!

Yep, that's how I originally got Illustrator. I bought it from a friend who upgraded to a new version.

Originally Posted by Julian Yep, that's how I originally got Illustrator. I bought it from a friend who upgraded to a new version.

This is likely NOT legal, because to have obtained the upgrade they have to be a licensed owner of the version that you bought. In other words, you could also later take the original version and upgrade it, which would then create two copies of the same software with two owners without having paid the software company.

As for buying the software second-hand, some terms of service contracts say "no", others do not limit you. Since TOS' have never been really tested in courts, it's possible that a TOS that limits transferrence would be considered invalid. Or it could be considered valid because you agreed to it when you installed the package. Hard to be positive, but check the TOS first to see if that will throw up any roadblocks.

my wife works full-time at a college, and is a student so she can get cheap versions of the adobe suite products, i talked with the software manager and he assured me that the version don't watermark or anything, but i dont know if it is ethical to use the educational versions for my personal freelance use. Adobe states on their site that educational versions are for learning only, no commercial use. Does anyone have any insight on this situation? I want to do the right thing even if they would never know, but the price difference is huge, its a third of the retail price! thanks for any input.

(oh yeah first post btw!...woo hoo)

summud i wouldnt worry, nowadays educational copies justs means that it is cheaper as the person buying it is in education. In my opinion its just like getting student discount on any other product. My parents at work have an educational version due to price tag, apple did not at all mind and doubt they will. They realise that there is no way that they can enforce educational versions to just be used for learning only.

If they are not using it, yes, but I would only trust a close friend with that.

Otherwise you could get in some big do-do.

Would it be ethical to use educational software for commercial gain, especially when it is against the terms of use of the product?

It isn't ethical, and isn't legal. Are you likely to be caught? No.

people download software everyday of the week if you get caught doing somthing like this then lifes not worth livin lol