May I Have Your EULA Please?

LionsFate asks: "Just like the subject says. I want End User Licence Agreements (EULAs). I'm starting a database of as many EULAs as I can get. I want to know the first EULA that said we can't reverse engineer their software. I want to know the first that said they can watch our activities. I want to know how the NES agreement differs from the GameCube. Did Nintendo lighten, or tighten restrictions? I'm looking to generate a time-line of EULAs and how they have changed. What permissions we have been given, and taken away over that period. What rights did we have in Windows 3.1, compared to Windows XP? How has the MPAA and RIAA changed our 'legal rights' on software as a result of their effort? Watched Napster or other P2P software and seen the changes in their EULAs? I'm starting my EULA database at here and I need as many EULAs as I can get to populate the database. If you can, please email me any/all that you can. I'm hoping within a few weeks to have the site online." Ask Slashdot last tackled the topic of EULAs in this piece. It would be interesting to grab a nice sample of EULAs across the last 2 decades to see what has changed, if anything.

Comments

Now the next generation of EULA's will say...

[MrKevvy]

"...You agree not to post this EULA in a EULA database..."

Way to get around copyrights

[EvanED]

If you really have time, you might want to try to make an English translation of the EULAs so you're not breaking the copyright on them.

OT:Windows XP EULA

[Henry V .009]

Has anybody counted up how many pages of EULAs you are obligated to read in order to install Windows XP with full updates? I think I'll put a running total on my webpage.

Re:OT:Windows XP EULA

[Jeffrey Baker]

No, but I was just installing Windows 2000 Pro into a VMWare device. To install Service Pack 2, I had to accept the EULA for the control that checks to see what updates you need, the EULA for the widget that downloads the SP2 installer, the EULA for the SP2 installer, and the EULA for SP2.

Then I went down to the local burrito stand and somehow they forgot the EULA for my burrito! Ignorant bastards.

Wow! That's a lot of work...

[dbCooper0]

No way am I gonna re-install all my OSs and Warez to cut and paste all that text!

Tell ya what: gimme an account on yer FTP server and I'll upload them to you - you can do the work :)

ps: How many gigs ya got free?

Re:Test this in court! Prohibitions are dubious

[kin_korn_karn]

You gotta love lawyers. Especially when one of 'em is your wife.

I would make a joke about you getting to screw a lawyer back, but since you're married to her I know she's not letting you do that.

I have your translation right here:

[Anonymous Coward]

We are $BIG_CORP. You're just an individual. Bend over like the bitch that you are because we have enough money and lawyers to crush any opposition you might present. Have a nice day, and enjoy your limited rights to use $BIG_CORP products.

Quest for the first EULA!

[FyRE666]

IANAL, but if someone were to discover the first EULA used in a piece of commercial software (that still bore some relevance to current EULAs), bought it from the original owner and decided to defend its patent on the EULA, couldn't this company then claim royalties from all other software companies for using EULAs that were "substantially identical"?

Better still, don't demand royalties, just prohibit anyone from using anything substantially identical to piss them all off ;-)

Re:I want to see the secret DVD EULA

[rmohr02]

Too complicated, try this:

You do not have the right to do anything to this DVD except to read the back and use the shiny part of the disc as a mirror. If you exceed these rights, then you forfeit the use of the shiny part of the disc as a mirror.