License that allows private copying?

Greg London email at greglondon.com
Thu Mar 25 14:55:01 EST 2004


Scott Johnston said:
> My program is for use by two or more people at once.  It's of no use to
> the solitary person.  So I want one person to be able to buy a copy and
> be able to try it out by working with a friend (or group of friends),
> without them violating any laws.

from www.creativecommons.com:
: Introduction: Creative Commons is devoted to expanding the range of
: creative work available for others to build upon and share.

You are selling a work that is "All Rights Reserved".
And you want to bundle 2 (or some value of N)
copies together when someone purchases your software.

Alice buys 2 copies of your software for a single payment of $100.
she then lets Bob try it with her, and then Charlie.
Charlie likes it, and the two of them use the software,
and you earned $100.

You could just as easily sell your software for PRICE/N
and only give the person one license. You could then solve
the "I need someone to play with" problem by letting anyone
download a free version that only works for a limited time,
with limited features, or whatever.

Alice buys a copy for $50. and then gets Bob and Charlie to
get the demo version for free. Charlie decides he likes it
enough to buy the full version for $50. And the two play
together and you've earned $100.

The short of it is that you are selling proprietary software.
Your license is "All Rights Reserved". You are just bundling
multiple copies of the software in a single purchase.

What you are doing has nothing to do with
Creative Commons mission to expand the works
available to build upon and share.

Your definiton of "share" is really
N copies of a program in one purchase.






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