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E-Waste Innovator Will Go To Jail For Making Windows Restore Disks That Only Worked With Valid Licenses (gizmodo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Washington Post: California man Eric Lundgren, an electronic waste entrepreneur who produced tens of thousands of Windows restore disks intended to extend the lifespan of aging computers, lost a federal appeals court case in Miami after it ruled "he had infringed Microsoft's products to the tune of $700,000," the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. Per the Post, the appeals court ruled Lundgren's original sentence of 15 months in prison and a $50,000 fine would stay, despite the software being freely available online and only compatible with valid Windows licenses: "The appeals court upheld a federal district judge's ruling that the disks made by Eric Lundgren to restore Microsoft operating systems had a value of $25 apiece, even though they could be downloaded free and could be used only on computers with a valid Microsoft license. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit initially granted Lundgren an emergency stay of his prison sentence, shortly before he was to surrender, but then affirmed his original 15-month sentence and $50,000 fine without hearing oral argument in a ruling issued April 11." All told, the court valued 28,000 restore disks he produced at $700,000, despite testimony from software expert Glenn Weadock that they were worth essentially zero.

426 comments

  1. No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Brave new world ! Hail Microsoft !

    1. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It wasn;'t illegal. Remember, they claim that they're not selling the disk, else they would have to replace damages and loss, but the license to use, hence you "need" an agreement (EULA). Making the disk itself worthless. And, no, if you have a license, you do not need to use the original disks,you just use the license key. Not even the disk s were illegally copied. So complete fail there, moron.

    2. Re:No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I wish the U.S. had a well-functioning government.

    3. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thatâ(TM)s not true, for XP and vista, oem jets were not compatible with retail disks, and needed the oem versions from the manufacturer. HP and Dell were notorious for this. It still continues in newer PCâ(TM)s. I had a netbook the other day that wouldnâ(TM)t activate on any other version than âoeWindows 8.1N with bingâ. Dumb thing had to have a specific version that contained bing.

    4. Re:No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yep. This case proves conclusively that the US legal system is worth approximately $0.

    5. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Laughs in Linux.

      Error! Broken depository.

      Dang it...

    6. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Jerry · · Score: 1

      Laughs in Linux.

      Error! Broken depository.

      Dang it...

      "depository" ? LOL!
      Windows doesn't use a "depository", unless you are referring to the OS itself, and Linux uses repositories.

      --

      Running with Linux for over 20 years!

    7. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 1

      Whoosh

      --
      -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
    8. Re:No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft are assholes for many reasons, but this isn't one of them. This guy was committing copyright infringement by distributing software that he didn't own nor had any distribution rights to. The fact that it required a valid license to use is irrelevant.

    9. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you a fucking moron?

    10. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I was on his side until I read the article. While it is indeed legal to download and burn the software to CD, it is not okay to redistribute that CD. Even giving it away is distribution.

      That's really what this whole thing comes down to. He did not have the right to distribute that software. He could of passed out a piece of paper with instructions on how to get to the download site and how to burn the disc, but clearly he was selling the used hardware and wanted it to be easy for anyone to buy a computer from him.

      I don't like Microsoft, but if you want to use their software, you need to follow the rules. Otherwise use Linux and this would of never come up.

    11. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you a fucking moron?

      Asks the stupid and entitled kid who doesn't understand copyright law.

    12. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      could of

      "Could have" or "could've", not "could of".

      would of

      "Would have" or "would've", not "would of".

    13. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm a so-called grammar Nazi, as well. However, his/her statement is very valid. Given so, I believe your comment added a negative connotation to his comment and, therefore, won't be well received by folks that share a similar thought process as my own. Hell, it detracts from his standpoint all together.

      Kudos on catching the error; but in this case we could have gone without the correction.

    14. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is the law and there is what's right.

      The law used to agree that for example putting all Japanese in camps, putting gay people in prison is A okay. So saying that it was wrong because it is against the law is a very weak argument, it is illegal, but the law might be wrong.

    15. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The law is what society as a whole deems to be right, otherwise it wouldn't be a law. Distributing someone else's copyrighted material is illegal.

    16. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by lsatenstein · · Score: 1

      He should appeal. With that ruling, spare parts manufacturers who make brake pads and car components should be found likewise guilty too. The argument is that what is against this benevolent person applies to all manufacturers of replacement parts.

      --
      Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
    17. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Says the stupid and captured moron that thinks this is what copyright law was created to protect. Especially since MSFT is freely giving it away.

      But hey the more MSFT persists in this stupidity and the courts support them the more people will understand the actual problem...we can hope.

    18. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Are you a fucking moron?

      Asks the stupid and entitled kid who doesn't understand copyright law.

      The law is not moral. That's the whole point. This seems like it's just gone over your head several times now.

    19. Re: No good deed goes unpunished! by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      The law is what society as a whole deems to be right, otherwise it wouldn't be a law.

      I'm pretty sure you don't want to walk down that rhetorical road. Because if you gave people the specifics of this case and asked them if it seemed right that the law should jail this man, I guarantee you that far more people would be on his side than against.

      Pretty much the only people that agree with this are the IP-rights lovers and their astroturf-posting AC accounts.

  2. YEAH! by Zurkeyon3733 · · Score: 0

    Now shut up and drink your lead laced landfill water and go back to sleep!

    1. Re:YEAH! by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      What? You want me to drink TAP water??? No thanks. Instead I'll pay $2 a bottle for fluoride flavored water. Mmmmmm. Fluoride.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    2. Re:YEAH! by thunderclees · · Score: 1

      *NEW floride flavored bottled water, NOW with crunchy plastic bits!*

    3. Re:YEAH! by gx5000 · · Score: 1

      Our tap is wonderful here in Ottawa...
      I still only drink water left over from the morning coffee boil and filtered through Brita.

      --
      End of Line.
    4. Re:YEAH! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Brita filters don't really do much. I have tested several sources of water with a water tester that measures particle density. My tap water here in SoCal is around 500PPM, filtered through a Brita with a new filter it reduced it to around 350PPM, smartwater was 12PPM (it has added electrolytes) and Ralphs/Kroger store brand water was 0PPM.

      I don't have a chemical test kit, so I can't test for crap like fluoride and chlorine.

  3. Legal system is broken by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It boggles my mind that such verdict is possible. How come jury nullification didn't happen in this case?

    1. Re:Legal system is broken by fodder69 · · Score: 1

      Is ruled on by a judge not a jury in this case (my guess cause I don't care to look more).

    2. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or a hung jury if I were a member of the jury. Wow, MSFT must have gotten rid of anyone that has used a computer ever from the jury.

    3. Re:Legal system is broken by bjdevil66 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That's because 99.9% of jury members aren't aware of jury nullification and the true power they wield. Trial lawyers definitely don't want juries to know about that right, either - especially prosecutors - because those jurors become wildcards. If the lawyers even get a hint of a juror knowing about it, they are thrown out of the jury pool during the selection process.

    4. Re:Legal system is broken by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Microsoft spent more on lawyers.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Strange isn't it, that we allow governors and presidents power to usurp law by use of pardon. But when we the people want to do the same through jury nullification we are shunned by authority. It is your right and duty in cases of gross unjust punishment to use jury nullification.

    6. Re:Legal system is broken by tomhath · · Score: 4, Informative
      It was a clear case of copyright infringement. Lundgren himself admitted that:

      the disks had “labels nearly identical to the discs provided by Dell for its computers and had the Windows and Dell logos,” the Times wrote. As a result, Lundgren pleaded guilty to two of 21 charges, conspiracy and copyright infringement. He told the paper, “If I had just written ‘Eric’s Restore Disc’ on there, it would have been fine.”

      It probably wouldn't have been fine though, he was still distributing copies of software without the copyright owner's permission.

      What he probably could have done legally was write his own software and made restore disks with that. But copying software is much cheaper than writing software.

    7. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because no one is actually looking at this with all the facts, we all just jump on a bandwagon when we read between the lines.
      From the original news story about the original court case (not the appeal) "He thought that producing and selling restore discs to computer refurbishers — saving them the hassle of downloading the software and burning new discs — would encourage more secondhand sales. In his view, the new owners were entitled to the software, and this just made it easier."

      You can freely download and burn the restore disk without any legal ramifications, you CAN NOT sell the restore disk unless you have authorization to do so.

    8. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Criminal trial as he went to jail. In the US, all criminal trials must have a jury if the defendant demands it.

    9. Re:Legal system is broken by Kielistic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The question is: why not? If Microsoft doesn't want to provide this service and other people value it enough to pay for it why should he not be paid for his labour?

    10. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Politics is the mind-killer.

    11. Re:Legal system is broken by Sarten-X · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm okay with that.

      Jury nullification is, by necessity, a complete undermining of the legal and judicial process. It is essentially taking the Constitutional architecture for our three branches of government, throwing it out the window, and saying "this mob will rule today". To ask a jury to nullify a case is to declare no confidence in the duly-elected representatives, judges, or attorneys involved.

      It is the ultimate power of the people, as the judicial equivalent of a nuclear weapon. There is no return, no appeal, and no way to fix the harm caused by a jury nullifying inappropriately. It is a power that should be used when there is no other option that aligns with America's founding principles. If an executive branch starts persecuting religious leaders, nullification would be appropriate. If people are being prosecuted simply for meeting each other, nullification is appropriate. If someone is being tried for their thoughts rather than their actions, nullification would be appropriate.

      I, for one, can't trust that someone promoting nullification can actually respect the law or its application. In the public eye, it's become seen as a minor anarchy; just a way to escape consequences for crimes against acceptable targets. After all, who cares if it's Microsoft, or Disney, or Monsanto being harmed? How bad can it be to remove legal protection from groups or people we don't like, anyway?

      Now in this case, Lundgren violated the letter, spirit, and intent of the law. There are other (legal) routes to accomplish what he tried to do. Just because we happen to agree with the cause he champions is no reason to tear down the pillars of justice. It's just not worth the high cost.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    12. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because they will ask you during "voir dire" whether you will uphold the judges instructions and weigh the evidence against the law. If you say no and that you believe in jury nullification, you will be kicked off and won't get to serve on the jury. If you say yes, then you just admitted under oath that you will obey the judge's instructions. If you are then chosen as a juror and bring up jury nullification to other jurors, you risk a mistrial and possibly contempt of court. If you keep your mouth shut and refuse to convict, that is your only chance, but you will get a lot of pressure from the other jurors. Trust me, I was just on a case a few weeks ago.

    13. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So you crowbar Trump and some weird pretend victimhood into every conversation?

      I bet it makes you the life and soul of the party.

      Or maybe you're just slowly ostracising yourself from the people around you.

    14. Re:Legal system is broken by Rhipf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Judges don't have the authority to "usurps the executive powers of the President regarding immigration" but only the legality of how that power is used (hence balance of powers). Without that check the President would become a defacto dictator.

      If you are a judge and you have both sides of the political debate upset with you over different rulings you are probably doing your job properly.

    15. Re:Legal system is broken by omnichad · · Score: 3, Informative

      The answer is copyright. And he didn't have the right to copy and distribute. Technically not even for free.

    16. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      which should be extremely illegal because it subverts the united states constitution

    17. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because the image he is burning and trying to sell is not his labour at all, it's Microsoft's. If M$ wants to make sure that only authorized resellers sell their restore cd's to distributors that is their choice. Even small stuff like how was the CD labeled would have implications, did he have the windows logo anywhere on the cd or the case?

        I'm not saying I agree with the verdict but at the end of the day unless you sit in on the actual court case/appeal process and/or everything was published and there was no publication bans. It's hard to have a clear view of exactly that legalities were argued.

    18. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So you can pay an employee to do it but not another company? The point is that this is just another demonstration of why copyright law is broken.

    19. Re:Legal system is broken by king+neckbeard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, it's almost as if they view an important part of the judicial branch as being a check on the power of the other branches of government. Of course, that would also mean realizing that the judge didn't "usurp" power, but instead "checked" it. Usurping the power would be if the judges themselves were deporting immigrants.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    20. Re:Legal system is broken by JD-1027 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I, for one, can't trust that someone promoting nullification can actually respect the law or its application

      Exactly. When we have no trust in the specific law being tried, nullification might be the appropriate response.

      I'm not qualified to comment on the case, but what I've seen so far, I'm not sure the punishment fits the crime.

      But, then again, I'm not a soulless corporation, so it follows that most of the laws of our land wouldn't make sense to me, especially in the realm of copyright.

    21. Re:Legal system is broken by thunderclees · · Score: 0

      If the "just-us" system worked M$ would be broken up and Windows would be public domain by now.
      As it is M$ had said in the past that they retain ownership of the copy of Windows on your computer and all you paid for was conditional use

    22. Re:Legal system is broken by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 1
      I wouldn't have nullified in this particular case, but...

      Because they will ask you during "voir dire" whether you will uphold the judges instructions and weigh the evidence against the law. .. If you say yes, then you just admitted under oath that you will obey the judge's instructions.

      "When I said yes, I didn't realize the [judge's instructions | written law] was going to be so nutty. I went into this with faith and confidence but then your fucked up court showed me that its entire purpose is to harm the innocent."

      Again, not what I'd have done in this case, but let's face it: most people don't know the details of most laws, but generally expect them to be sane, or at least well-meaning. A person can very easily answer yes before they know what the law is. Once they hear it, and once the judge starts doing things they think are shady, or issuing instructions that appear to be designed to prevent a fair trail from happening, there's nothing wrong with someone changing their mind. That initial "yes" (or more realistically, "I think so") is a question, not a pledge or promise. It's a statement of the juror's opinion. It's a prediction.

      That's how I'd take it. If the law and court are reasonably in line with peoples' expectations, there's nothing to worry about.

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    23. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FYI, for all you sane people out there.

      When someone invokes the term "jury nullification" you should immediately discard any legal opinion they spout.

      It's sovereign citizen level nonsense.

    24. Re:Legal system is broken by Sarten-X · · Score: 2

      If it's a specific law you don't trust, ask your representatives to have that law changed, either through a direct petition or through indirect activism. That's how the system is designed to work, in accordance with the Constitution. As the saying goes, there are the four boxes of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. The third box is when the first two have failed completely.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    25. Re:Legal system is broken by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Jury nullification is, by necessity, a complete undermining of the legal and judicial process.

      Uh, that's it purpose, McFly. It is supposed to be used to nullify BAD laws.

      It is basically the equivalent of civil disobedience but in the legal framework.

    26. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The court can check the power of the executive. That's how our system works.

    27. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jury Nullification is the ultimate power of a jury of your peers to make sure that the government doesn't unjustly punish people.

      This country and our states have come up with some ridiculous, spiteful, cruel laws (Alien and Sedition Act, Jim Crow, miscegenation, sodomy, no dancing on Wednesdays to name a few). People are going be technically guilty of those kind of laws, even today. Juries (and Judges BTW) have the power to find "not guilty" to prevent miscarriages of justice.

    28. Re:Legal system is broken by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      Jury nullification is, by necessity, a complete undermining of the legal and judicial process. It is essentially taking the Constitutional architecture for our three branches of government, throwing it out the window, and saying "this mob will rule today". To ask a jury to nullify a case is to declare no confidence in the duly-elected representatives, judges, or attorneys involved.

      Which in a case like this would have been exactly the right thing to do!

      Jury nullification cannot be used to execute or imprison someone who by law might not have been punished. It can only be used in the other direction, to serve notice that in the eyes of the people the law was wrongly applied to this case and that more freedom applies, not less.

    29. Re:Legal system is broken by mysidia · · Score: 1

      This was an appeals case. Only the original trial would have been by jury.

    30. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are right that it is the nuclear option, but you're wrong about that it is to "is to declare no confidence in the duly-elected representatives, judges, or attorneys involved". Far from it.

      Laws are created by people. DAs are people too. The laws they choose to apply to a particular case are often not what the legislature wrote the law to combat in the first place (or they even wrote the law in bad faith in exchange for campaign contributions). Attorneys and police are just people working within the outlines of those laws.

      If a law is being misapplied - e.g. laws designed to punish organized crime are being applied to someone caught speeding or something - or if the DA is shown to be acting in bad faith due to some personal grudge, then it is the responsibility of every citizen to not be part of a system whose result is evil.

      For example, consider the case of Edward Snowden if he ever comes back of the USA. In my opinion, he did a ton of good by his leak, but he faces the wrath of a vindictive intel community and is charged with an obscure 1917 laws against foreign spies which carries the death penalty and prevents a public good defense. If you were selected to be in his jury, would you send to death row a good man because he did the right thing and exposed bad people who misclassified essential public information of their bad deeds, and pressured attorneys to bring charges against their whistleblower? Convicting Snowden of anything if you share this veiwpoint would be being a party to evil.

      The "I was just following orders" excuse for doing evil didn't work at Nuremburg, and it should not work today. Just because the system is claiming something is bad, does not make it true. It's the very reason we have juries to administer justice - so that 12 people judging that particular situation instead of politicians working in the abstract and/or self serving attorneys, get to decide decide what is just and do the right thing. If the only goal of the 12 people was to apply the law, then we could just get rid of all judges and juries and use a computer instead.

      Jury nullification is an extreme measure no doubt, but nowhere near as bad as you'd like to have us believe.

      As for this particular case, "the pillars of justice" will not collapse if one or two shitty crony-capitalist laws are overturned (a law that bankrupts and sends a person to prison for helping people is clearly stupid, or at the very least being misapplied to the situation, since the damage he caused is clearly $0). The "there is no legal system without THIS PARTICULAR LAW!!!!!!11!" hyperbole does not help your case.

    31. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can freely download and burn the restore disk without any legal ramifications, you CAN NOT sell the restore disk unless you have authorization to do so.

      If he bought the disk for $0.01 he would be able to resell the disk under right of first sale, why not at a price of $0.00?

    32. Re:Legal system is broken by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      It doesn't do anything to the law, though. It only nullifies the specific case. The whole premise of a law-abiding society is that the laws are predictable and fairly applied. Using jury nullification turns the legal system into a popularity contest, where the winners can get away with anything if they can convince enough jurors that they should be above the law.

      If you want to get rid of a bad law, the best way to do that is to convince your representative to take up that cause, or even run for that position yourself.

      As for civil disobedience, please recall that that's also still breaking the law, and folks still get arrested for it, and folks still go to jail for it, and only rarely do they ever see their preferred form of outcome. Usually, civil disobedience (at least, when coordinated by people who know what they're doing) is intended to be an opportunity to draw media attention to an issue, or to get a carefully-planned case in front of an appeals court with the ability to rule a law is unconstitutional. As a famous example, Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat sparked a popular media event, but the discriminatory law itself was actually overturned by the case stemming from the arrest and fining of Aurelia Browder.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    33. Re:Legal system is broken by Straif · · Score: 0

      The only problem with the belief that they were just 'checking' executive powers was that in at least the most recent two big immigration related issues (travel ban and DACA) the courts, by their own admission in cases going back over a century, have admitted they have almost no authority.

      The travel ban was presented as a national security issue and as the targeted countries all have either failing, hostile or non-existent central governments to validate the persons claims that would be a valid argument to make. On national security issues the courts have repeatedly stated that the President has almost unchecked powers (within the confines of the constitution). Like it or not Trump was on firm legal ground to limit or completely prevent non-citizens from coming to the US and the cherry picked courts imposed their own beliefs into the decision, not a strong legally backed argument.

      As for DACA, that is a weirder case in the fact that the DACA program itself is unconstitutional as the President cannot create immigration policy out of nothing which is exactly what Obama did when creating it. Trump is actually trying to undo an unconstitutional mistake from a previous admin and now the courts are stepping in to force the program to continue. Historically the courts have declared that immigration policy is wholly within the domain of the Legislative branch and they, meaning the courts, can only ensure that the laws are followed as written. If you can point out the legislation behind DACA than you could save a lot of people a lot of time and headache.

      --
      Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
    34. Re: Legal system is broken by Reverend+Green · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pardon me brother, can you spare a couple hundred million dollars? I need to get a law changed!

    35. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (I'm talking about nullification in general, not this particular case. (In this case, it kind of looks like the guy was committing both massive copyright infringement and Windows proliferation.))

      Jury nullification is, by necessity, a complete undermining of the legal and judicial process.

      "Complete undermining" is pretty strong words; what's what with "check?"

      "this mob will rule today".

      No, it's "I will rule today, and everyone else agreed that I should rule today."

      To ask a jury to nullify a case is to declare no confidence in the duly-elected representatives, judges, or attorneys involved.

      There's a big difference between "I have no confidence in this" vs "oops, we have an error here." Those representatives, judges and lawyers are just people like you and me and not any better than you. Their opinions aren't worth more. They didn't think harder or deeper than you. They may or may not have lived through comparable experiences to yours. They supposedly try to make just laws, but they sometimes fuck up and, as we all know, sometimes they don't actually even try and they just sold the law-writing to the highest bidder. Sometimes.

      I have even heard of members of Congress without any medical experience, talk about drugs as though their opinion about a drug should more be relevant than anyone else's. I have heard religious members of Congress talk about science!

      You totally have the right to judge their work and write "A" or "F" in big red ink. One of your jobs as a juror is to be the person that a special interest couldn't buy or threaten in advance. One of your jobs might be to look at the situation from a 2018 perspective instead of a 1998 perspective. One of your jobs might be to spot a loophole that should have been closed or the lack of a loophole that should have been made. Your job is to uphold justice, and you go into it hoping that the law was written to represent a popular consensus that you'll probably mostly agree with once you read it, and if it was done well, it should turn out to be a very practical guide for making your decision efficiently.

      We elect legislators not because it's ideal, but because it's the best we can reasonably do, to tell the rest of society how we think things should be. The legislators (we hope) do that job well.

      But none of this is ever above criticism, correction, or amendment.

      How could it be otherwise, unless you're into the supernatural justice system of "let god sort it out later." What are you supposed to do, uphold a bad law? Put your opinions aside? Cackle with glee that today, you are empowered to squash an innocent person with impunity for the pure pleasure of seeing the state bring down its awesome power?

      it's become seen as a minor anarchy;

      No, it's judgment. It's a juror's job to bring it and use it, and I bet you can't avoid doing that without feeling like shit.

      If this guy had a jury (afaik he didn't) and if the jurors thought copyright was a bad idea (which actually isn't a popular opinion; most people see the reason for it and the constitution pretty concisely explains why it's a thing) or if the juror saw this instance of infringement as victimless (since Microsoft had already been paid for their work), then why not acquit?

      Huh, that last part .. perhaps I might have nullified after all. If I were on the jury, I'd like to hear the prosecution explain why Microsoft should have been paid twice for their work, instead of just once. But one thing that will not even slightly convince me (from a juror's perspective) would be if someone said "That's how the law is written." I'd rather hear arguments like "in order to promote the progress of software development, software should be purchased multiple times over the lifetime of its use," followed by an explanation for how that's a good idea.

      We already accept that jurors have to judge defendants. Why can't they judge prosecutors and courts and legislatures' works too?

    36. Re:Legal system is broken by Sarten-X · · Score: 2

      Which in a case like this would have been exactly the right thing to do!

      Why exactly would it be right in this case?

      Microsoft produced a work eligible for copyright. They sell copies of that work. Lundgren made his own copies, distributed them, and benefitted from that distribution of someone else's work. Please tell me why, in very specific terms, it would be just to allow this act?

      Jury nullification cannot be used to execute or imprison someone who by law might not have been punished.

      Jury nullification can be used to allow offenses to go unpunished. It has been used in the past to allow racist murderers to go unpunished, leaving the victims' families with no recourse for justice. Here you suggest that it should be used to allow the looting of someone's contracted and paid-for labor. It is a power, and like any other power, it can be used for evil just as easily as it can for good.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    37. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because you don't want to sell the copper pipe in your house to meth heads, why should I not be allowed to do so? Your copper pipes like, want to be free, man.

    38. Re:Legal system is broken by war4peace · · Score: 1

      What does this have to do with anything?
      Yes, when a judge does something right people will cheer. and when a judge does something wrong people will boo. It's not even the same judge FFS!

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    39. Re:Legal system is broken by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1, Troll

      This is a prime example of the 'Golden Rule': Those who have the gold make the rules. Microsoft, being the asshole corporation they are, has probably an entire building full of high-priced lawyers, and they will pile on anybody they feel like and bury them. This Eric Lundgren probably doesn't even have a fraction of the liquid assets that Microsoft has and was just plain destroyed via attrition. The reason why, by the way: it went against their long-term objective to force everyone to use Windows 10, and become part of the Microsoft bot-net. Microsoft needs to be taken down and chopped up again. Hell, for that matter, big corporations in general, especially here in the U.S., need to be taken down and chopped up. There used to be such a concept as 'capitalism in the public interest', but I don't see that happening today. I think it's about time it started happening.

    40. Re:Legal system is broken by hawk · · Score: 2

      Yes, ans also . . .

      The *very nature* of jury nullification is that it is the impromptu action of the jury members when their consciences are shocked; it is not something that can be argued to them.

      Also, while normally discussed for petit juries (trial), it not only also applies to grand juries, but that aspect is actually enshrined in the US Bill of Rights: the right to indictment by grand jury for felony is *because* the colonial grand juries refused to indict patriots for acts of which they were clearly guilty under the law.

      hawk, esq.

    41. Re: Legal system is broken by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      It's actually more about the seriousness of the crime, not necessarily that it was a crime. I'm general, so long as the jail sentence is 6 months or less, and/or a fine is $1,000 or less. This applies universally, but some states grant jury trials for less than that.

      https://www.nolo.com/legal-enc...

    42. Re:Legal system is broken by Uberbah · · Score: 2

      Because no one is actually looking at this with all the facts, we all just jump on a bandwagon when we read between the lines.

      Nope! Just not being willfully blind to the draconian punishment being handed down here. A reasonable fine and a suspended sentence (to be wiped after probation is completed) would be more than sufficient. And if it wasn't and the guy went back to selling restore disks...just unsuspend the sentence and then send him to jail. Instead of fucking him over the rest of his life with a federal felony conviction.

    43. Re:Legal system is broken by es330td · · Score: 1

      I have been on the jury side of nullification. Once while on a Grand Jury a case involving bodily injury was brought wherein the facts very clearly indicated evidence sufficient to go to trial and was strong enough that a prosecutor would have an easy time getting a conviction. A common sense examination of the facts, however, indicated that he was not responsible for the crime. I can't discuss the specifics but the scenario was similar to that in the NFL where a player gets hit but the ref only sees and calls a foul on the retaliation punch. We chose to No Bill the indictment. We specifically talked in deliberation about whether we were in bounds to do this but at the end of the day we decided that this was best for the situation.

      I think it is also important to note that the most the jury can do is determine to not act in one specific instance. A jury cannot increase charges or bring charges against an individual. The worst thing the "mob rule" jury can do is decide the outcome of one case.

    44. Re:Legal system is broken by sycodon · · Score: 1

      This. is, in fact, a usurpation of Presidential powers.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    45. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NO, it is NOT! Jury nullification is the 4th balance of power, against the three of government. It is the final way for citizens to say, "this is wrong!"

    46. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Big Difference between the courts saying, "you can't do that" and them saying, " You must do that".

      DACA wasn't even an executive order, it was a simple policy change that violated the law.

      Stupid tool judges claim that you can't reverse a policy unless you justify it.

      Judges have become too full of themselves and their authority has become far over reaching, which is the actual Constitutional Crises

      Trump should tell them to go fuck themselves and deport Dreamers as they run across them.

    47. Re: Legal system is broken by nitehawk214 · · Score: 0

      Convince your representative to change a law that was bought paid for by corporations? What kind of fantasy land do you live in?

      Notice how all of these laws we talk about jury nullification for are to benefit corporations and not to help citizens rights? Do you think maybe there is a connection here?

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    48. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You aren't wrong but yet not totally correct either. The story is not just as simple as your post is. It is still under debate and is still unclear. If you are taking the issue from your point of view, then you are correct that it is unconstitutional for a President to create a policy out of thin air. However, in DACA case, it is not exactly like that. It is under the ground of "Article II, Section Three of the Constitution states that the president 'shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.'" which is said by Michael Tan. His interpretation of "take care the laws" is to decide which group can stay. This is a huge different from allowing "all" which is now conflated by the current administration withe the non-documented immigrants.

      Laws are simple, but interpretation is actually the key and is very complex. Often times, law interpretation is case-by-case. Assuming that an application/interpretation of laws in one case can always be used on other cases is wrong. Furthermore, assuming a situation in law as a whole is also wrong.

      Ethically, the struck down of DACA is totally wrong. However, ethical usually goes the opposite way of laws.

    49. Re:Legal system is broken by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      What part of the Constitution do you think DACA violates? Congress makes the laws. The President controls their execution. Absent the executive branch actually breaking a law that explicitly requires them to do something, they are under no obligation to enforce laws 100% of the time.

      More to the point, prosecutorial authority (and thus, prosecutorial discretion) is the only power that lies exclusively with the executive branch. It is the executive branch's sole responsibility to determine who should or should not be prosecuted for violation of the law. Thus, this is arguably the President's *primary* job, with vetoing legislation being secondary, because leading the executive and setting policies that are followed by groups within the executive is the only task that isn't shared in any way with any other branch of government. (Leadership of the military is shared by Congress's ability to declare war, and overruling bad legislation is shared with the judiciary.)

      You literally cannot take away the President's authority to create policies like DACA without eliminating the executive branch or stripping it of its power, which would require a complete rewrite of the Constitution. Creating executive branch policies like DACA is precisely what the founding fathers intended for the executive branch to do.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    50. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Historically? Funny, someone apparently never has read Marbury v. Madison, which was decided only 210 years ago.

    51. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, Trump's problems regarding the "travel" ban were of his own making, he deliberately and willfully made statements of intent to take unlawful actions that violated the Constitution and thus entirely compromised his ability to act as his expressed beliefs indicated that his judgment was completely and utterly suspicious at best, unlawfully discriminatory at worse. If he had had the sense to simply refrain from his declarations of a religious ban, and stuck to vague generalities, he would have fewer problems,

      That he actually has to rely on presumed "secret" information further demonstrated the compromised nature of his position.

      The truth is that even if we are to believe these nations have insufficient safeguards, numerous other nations with compromised polices are given free access, even when it is documented that they are inducing the behavior by providing garnishments to Trump PR his family while individuals who offend Trump, on a public level, are punished.

      That's the kind of problem the administration has.

      Similarly, if Trump had simply exercised his authority under the Constitution to convene Congress to address the alleged problem with immigration, he might have performed adequately, however with his demonstrated personal animus including making false and disparaging statements, he once again compromised himself, rendering his own actions suspect.

      That he has chosen to parrot the words of white supremacists and pretends ignorance of their true character furthers the conflict.

      A wiser person would have chosen to refrain from that kind of behavior, but Trump is rather foolish and prone to exaggeration, so he could not help himself.

      Apparently you have some problems yourself. All the times that you say the president has unfettered authority? Red flags for people who realize that you don't engender trust by invoking such measures.

    52. Re:Legal system is broken by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      Jury nullification can be used to allow offenses to go unpunished. It has been used in the past to allow racist murderers to go unpunished, leaving the victims' families with no recourse for justice.

      It has also been used in the past to prevent racist prosecutors/DAs/courts/judges from wrongly convicting people based on race. It has been used to prevent ACLU civil rights activists in the Deep South in the '60s from being wrongly convicted & imprisoned as well as wrongly used as you've stated. It cuts both ways. Being that the vast majority of people (and thus potential jurors) in the US are basically good and fair-minded, jury nullification serves to do far more good than bad on balance.

      Personally I think it would be a great idea to post flyers all around the local area near court buildings explaining jury nullification to educate the public and potential jurors.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    53. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Usually, civil disobedience (at least, when coordinated by people who know what they're doing) is intended to be an opportunity to draw media attention to an issue, ...

      Not sure if that is correct. The civil disobedience itself is not purposely to be used by media in such the way. However, it is the media that see a way to use it so, and it is valid...

    54. Re:Legal system is broken by Kielistic · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's almost as though copyright law is broken. Can I be paid for my labour of building a PC, installing Windows and then selling the PC? I don't have the "right" to distribute Windows.

      I never doubted that this verdict was within the confines of the law. The question was should it be? I would say no.

    55. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jury nullification is another of the multiple layers of checks and balances in our legal system. It can be abused--just like Congress can pass poor laws, or courts can make unjust rulings (like this one--in my opinion). And it can be of benefit. The founders of this nation knew about it and expected it to be used to right the wrongs where a law is applied in a manner that is unjustifiable or excessive.

    56. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By making those copies freely available for download, Microsoft is encouraging the free distribution of its copyrighted work, relying on software mechanisms that Lundgren rightfully left in place to enforce compliance with licensing restrictions. There is thus no harm, and while Microsoft might have a complaint on semantics alone, the idea that the spirit of the law was violated is frankly laughable. If indeed a violation of the letter of the law can be shown, the $700K fine is wholly absurd, as put forward by Weadock.

    57. Re:Legal system is broken by mcmonkey · · Score: 3, Informative

      They sell copies of that work.

      Wrong. Try again.

      The license use of that work. They don't sell copies of that work.

    58. Re:Legal system is broken by kaatochacha · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      I really don't understand this ruling.
      President one: I demand everyone gets (X). Presidential fiat!
      President two: I now say nobody gets (X). Presidential fiat!
      Judge: President two, you can't do that.

      ????

    59. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if people who need things and people who want to provide for that need can't make ends meet because of a third party that could not possibly profit from their interaction anyways, but seeks to use their power to force those people to purchase new OS and computers instead of repairing their current ones, what we have is powerful fascists using their incredible political power to forcibly control people who do not want to do business with them.

    60. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't argue Obama didn't have the right to create DACA. I'd disagree with doing it that way versus legislation, but he had the right.
      What I argue with is a judge stepping in and saying that ,essentially, one president has a right to create a program, but a second president doesn't have the right to end it.
      That makes no sense.

    61. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you even hold that big of a brush?

    62. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it might not be the specific law, it may be the way the law is being applied in a specific case. Law logic and regular logic parted ways a while ago, and as a result the law can sometimes be manipulated into an application it was never intended for. As a result the jury (the people) should have the ability to call foul on such actions, as a final check valve.

      The law may be perfectly fine as is, however a prosecutor is just miss-using it (or getting a little creative). Sure you can eventually get rid of the prosecutor and patch the law (if necessary) through the political process, but the political process hardly helps the case at hand, or prevents the immediate miscarriage of justice.

    63. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A legal person produced something according to a monopoly they hold for a limited time, granted by the general public in exchange for the utility their work provides.

      The legal person was paid.

      A natural person helped other natural persons to do something for which they are already legally licensed by paying said legal person, but cannot physically perform because plastic CDs aren't really very durable and the legal person charges for replacement at a rate which has no real connection to the action performed and need not take account of the license payment.

      The natural person may now go to prison for a considerable amount of time because of the non-harm suffered by the legal person.

      That's why.

    64. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The answer is copyright. And he didn't have the right to copy and distribute. Technically not even for free.

      So because fuck you that's why? He didn't cause 700K worth of damage to anyone because product doesn't even exists. If he didn't sell discs, nobody would have. In fact you could argue he saved Microsoft and other companies money by reducing traffic and work hours to countless repair shops.

      So "fuck me?", "fuck YOU" should have been a pretty legitimate response from the jury in this particular case. They could have just told the guy to stop with a slap on the wrist. But noooo, someone needs to make an example out of this poor asshole.

    65. Re:Legal system is broken by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Informative

      I, for one, can't trust that someone promoting nullification can actually respect the law or its application.

      That's because you're completely backwards. The exact opposite is true. It's the judges you can't trust. They lie to juries right at the beginning of trials. They say "if the facts are such and such, you must find the defendant guilty". But that's a lie. They have the right to return any verdict they want, and cannot be punished for it. When the judge begins the proceedings with a lie to the people who are supposed to decide guilt, you know that the whole system is corrupt.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    66. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the Attention of His Excellency,

      The President of the United States of America,

      Mr. Donald Trump

      Mister President,

      The undersigned, Gabriel Sandu, with the chosen domicile at the Law Office of Daniel MV Chitic, of Bucharest, at 7, Hristo Botev Blvd., 4th floor, apt. 4, Bucharest 3, Romania, would like to report several crimes committed by Microsoft and KPMG, both by their representatives and by two US Ambassadors in Romania.

      These crimes happened during the period I was a member of the Government of Romania, December 23, 2008 –September 1, 2010, when, in my capacity of Minister of the Informational Society and Communications, I took note of the facts I am about to report to you. Moreover, I also have the evidence that for almost 10 years, even when I was not a minister, these persons have committed the same deeds.

      I mention that, on September 27, 2017, I have submitted before the Romanian authorities, respectively with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, a denunciation against the following:

      - Microsoft, which committed the deeds provided by art. 367 Criminal Code (Formation of an organized criminal group), 291 Criminal Code (Influence peddling), 47 related to 291 Criminal Code, 290 Criminal Code and 292 Criminal Code (influence peddling, bribery and undue influence);

      - the USA Ambassadors - Nicholas Frank Taubman and Mark H. Gitenstein and the Ambassador of Austria - Martin Eichtinger who have committed the deeds provided by art. 291 Criminal Code (Influence peddling), 47 related to 291 Criminal Code (influence peddling);

      - Bsescu Traian, former president of Romania, for having committed the deeds provided by art. 367 Criminal Code (Formation of an organized criminal group), 291 Criminal Code (Influence peddling), 47 related to 291 Criminal Code (instigation to influence peddling), 289 Criminal Code (bribery), art. 29 lett. c of Law 656/2002 (money laundering);

      - Emil Boc, former prime-minister of Romania and Elena Udrea, former presidential counsellor, former Minister of Tourism and former Ministry of Development, currently under criminal investigation for several corrumption crimes, for having committed the deeds provided under art. 291 Criminal Code (influence peddling), 47 related to 291 Criminal Code (instigation to influence peddling);

      - Dorin Coco, Claudiu Floric, Dinu Pescariu, Clin Tatomir, Sorin Eftene, Florin Pletea, Drago Nicolaescu, for having committed the deeds provided by art. 367 Criminal Code (Formation of an organized criminal group), 291 Criminal Code (Influence peddling), 47 related to 291 Criminal Code, and 292 Criminal Code (instigation to influence peddling and undue influence) and art. 29 lett. a and b of Law 656/2002 (money laundering).

      All these deeds are provided by the Romanian criminal legislation.

      As a starter, here are some elements from the context in which the Microsoft operation was developed in its entirety, that prejudiced the Romanian State with hundreds of millions of Euro

      The Romanian Government and Microsoft concluded a “Strategic partnership” in Rome, on September 17, 2003. Its effect was to institute a monopoly in favour of the American IT giant on the Romanian market. That respective monopoly was approved by the execution by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Dan Nica, and by Mr. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, of a “Letter of Intent”. Subsequently, the Agreement 0115.RO was signed on April 15, 2004, which concerned the takeover of licences for the operation of the computers owned by the central administration and for the e-government projects and educational licences. I mention that the number of licences exceeded by far the number of the existing computers. This agreement concluded between the State and a private entity was in breach of the competition laws. As an effect, Microsoft became the hubt, both of the Romanian IT market and of the cybernetic security of the Romania

    67. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, if you read the opinion of the court, you'd note that Trump failed to give adequate reasons for his actions, so essentially, you missed the nature of the court's order.

    68. Re:Legal system is broken by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Judges don't have the authority to "usurps the executive powers of the President regarding immigration" but only the legality of how that power is used (hence balance of powers).

      Not completely true in the immigration case. In some of the rulings the judge piled on an additional reason that the President's reasoning, on the face of it, was not good enough in the judge's eyes. Not that it was uncostitutional in some way, but that the stated surface reason taken at face value was insufficient.

      This definitely is the judicial branch substituting it's weighing for the elected branches', said weighing directly assigned to them by the people by way of the constitution.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    69. Re:Legal system is broken by Marful · · Score: 1

      Last time I was a Juror, the judge threatened contempt of court to anyone who engaged in Jury nullification, or shared the knowledge with others. He didn't outright use the words "jury nullification", but it was basically what he was instructing the jury about.

    70. Re:Legal system is broken by Marful · · Score: 2

      Jury Nullification, like the 2nd Amendment, is implemented such that all power remains in the hands of the people.

    71. Re:Legal system is broken by sycodon · · Score: 2

      You literally cannot take away the President's authority to rescind policies like DACA without eliminating the executive branch or stripping it of its power, which would require a complete rewrite of the Constitution.

      Funny how that fits either situation.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    72. Re:Legal system is broken by Marful · · Score: 1

      Didn't Nintendo lose this case with the guy offering roms of their out-of-print games?

      IIRC, the court ruled that you can't claim copyright on a product you don't intend to sell. The whole point of copyright is so you can make available to the public the product while retaining rights to control the distribution.

      Nintendo subsequently started making bundled Game-Boy cartridges with 100 games on one cartridge so they could retain control of the IP.

    73. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > To ask a jury to nullify a case is to declare no confidence in the duly-elected representatives, judges, or attorneys involved.

      this is EXACTLY the purpose of Jury Nullification. When the will of the people are being ignored, and they are being PROSECUTED for unjust laws. the people can then NOPE THE FSCK out of unjust prosecutions.

      Let me ask you, are you also okay with how PROSECUTORS have the ability to turn a blind eye to illegal acts, and choose to not prosecute illegal acts? There are countless cases, where serious violations on city,county,state,FEDERAL levels, whereby laws are broken and stamped on, and a prosecutor chooses to not prosecute individuals despite overwhelming evidence. This happens on a yearly basis.

    74. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So can the executive just decide not to enforce the addict is the judicial. That would be a check, Right?

    75. Re:Legal system is broken by epine · · Score: 2

      That's because 99.9% of jury members aren't aware of jury nullification and the true power they wield.

      Way to tell half the story.

      Jury nullification:

      In most modern Western legal systems, however, judges often instruct juries to act only as "finders of facts", whose role it is to determine the veracity of the evidence presented, the weight accorded to the evidence, to apply that evidence to the law as explained by the judge, and to reach a verdict; but not to question the law or decide what it says.

      Similarly, juries are routinely cautioned by courts and some attorneys not to allow sympathy for a party or other affected persons to compromise the fair and dispassionate evaluation of evidence.

      These instructions are criticized by advocates of jury nullification.

      Now let's parse this automatic "true power" of your checklist-item clue stick to the second level:

      Jury nullification is the source of much debate.
      :
      Some maintain that it is an important safeguard of last resort against wrongful imprisonment and government tyranny.
      :
      Others view it as a violation of the right to a jury trial, which undermines the law.
      :
      Some view it as a violation of the oath sworn by jurors.
      :
      In the United States, some view the requirement that jurors take an oath to be unlawful in itself, while still others view the oath's reference to "deliverance" to require nullification of unjust law: "will well and truly try and a true deliverance make between the United States and the defendant at the bar, and a true verdict render according to the evidence, so help [me] God".
      :
      Some fear that nullification could be used to permit violence against socially unpopular factions.
      :
      They point to the danger that a jury may choose to convict a defendant who has not broken the letter of the law.
      :
      However, judges retain the rights both to decide sentences and to disregard juries' guilty verdicts, acting as a check against malicious juries.

      As a juror, you'd need your own fricking lawyer sitting beside you in the jury box just to halfway comprehend the true legal muddle you're operating within.

    76. Re:Legal system is broken by Solandri · · Score: 2

      It probably wouldn't have been fine though, he was still distributing copies of software without the copyright owner's permission.

      I don't think that was the issue at all. Is it copyright infringement to distribute software which the copyright holder is already distributing for free? If someone is giving away their ebook for free, are you prohibited from making a copy to give to your friend? I'd have to say no, otherwise I'm in a heap of trouble for all the copies of Office I've installed on systems I've built for customers. I downloaded the Office installer once and put a copy on my server, and used that copy (along with the install key the customer bought) to install it for them - essentially giving them a copy from my copy.

      I think the issue here was he was charging for the discs. I charge for the service of prepping the computer and installing/updating the software. I don't charge for the copy of Office I've pre-downloaded.

    77. Re:Legal system is broken by Straif · · Score: 1

      The problem with DACA wasn't that Obama choose to not remove illegal alien children from the US it's that it granted them special privileges.

      If he had just issued an E.O. saying "don't deport minors" then absent a new piece of legislation by Congress everything would have been legal. Of course Trump could then rescind that order and again, everything would be legal; there would be nowhere in the process for the judiciary to step in. Instead he created the DACA program which went above and beyond simply not deporting them.

      The not deporting potion is just selective enforcement which every President and every D.A. in the US routinely do. Granting special rights however, such as access to certain government benefits or special work permits, goes beyond choosing to not deport and into the realm of legislation.

      --
      Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
    78. Re:Legal system is broken by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Probably not a US ruling/case. Way too many Mickey Mouse laws and way too many films that are unavailable. Go find me a copy of Song of the South.

    79. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And THAT is the whole fucking point.

      Where in the Constitution does it say the President has to give a reason?

    80. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The first case doesn't do anything to the law. When there's a pattern of open-shut cases losing before juries the government stops bringing the cases.

    81. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good lord, this is why I hate the legal system. You'd think text that says

      In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury

      would be fairly straight forward, but no, corrupt courts say otherwise. The text in no way, shape or form limits the criminal proceedings, just simply says "all criminal prosecutions", but some dip shit court decides to arbitrarily add that.

    82. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good luck. Let me remind you in the US enough people don't believe in evolution (like if it was a matter of belief), so that the public education system cannot teach it to the citizens of tomorrow.

      Good luck with the juries (and judges).

    83. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My answer: "The oath does not apply when the judge is in contempt of court." Let them chew on it for awhile.

    84. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's how it is designed to work but not how it works in reality. Stanford did a study about this not long ago. As public opinion increases regarding a specific measure, the likelihood of congress to support it doesn't increase at all. However, when lobbyist opinion supports a measure then congress's likelihood of support increases proportionally.

    85. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So a case where legal inertia and indifference to the life of one man is not enough for the jury to make an executive decision and see justice done? Why should he have to follow the letter of the law and exercise his legal options when the law is trying to perpetrate an injustice. How can you be upset with mob rule, when in this case of law rule, the law is 10 x more in just than a mob would be.

      When the law becomes too corrupt and distant from the cause of justice, it is up to the mob to put the law back on the side of right.

      Remember slavery and killing Jews were all perfectly legal

    86. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. It's the court exercising its judicial authority to prevent the other branches from behaving with capriciousness.

      The administration admitted that their decision was made without even looking at facts or attempting to craft a remedy or even thinking about implementing in a reasonable manner.

      This is why they relied so heavily on plenary authority. Except that isn't how governance operates.

    87. Re:Legal system is broken by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      Because Microsoft had no business sticking it to a developer who took the trouble to preserve Windows licensing in implementing a restore program. Punishment would have been justified if he had been cavalier about Windows IP, but he explicitly did not do that, using a tool that MS gave away for free, so you spare us the inapplicable bleat about “looting someone’s contracted and paid-for labor.”

    88. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Governors and presidents do not "usurp" law by issuing a pardon.

    89. Re:Legal system is broken by darkmeridian · · Score: 0

      To demonstrate the dangers of jury nullification, let's not forget that white juries would routinely refuse to convict white men of the murders of blacks.

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    90. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's almost as though copyright law is broken.
       
      No, it's not broken. Just because you desire to attain a copyrighted work that is unavailable to you does not mean copyright is broken. You used the word "almost" to give you some wiggle room but the intent of copyright is to get a creator the right to decide how their work is handled (or even if it is handled) by third parties.
       
      Copyright is about protecting the creator and their creation, not your desire to have access to the creation.

    91. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The legal system exists to destroy males and assist (white) females.

      It's working as intended.

    92. Re: Legal system is broken by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Well, not to put too fine a point on it, basically:
      Obama's administration filled out the paperwork and submitted it in triplicate.
      Trump's administration just used blank paper with the words "Immagrints Bad" on it.

      I think you're confusing "fine point" and "dull troll". No part of your comment comes even close to reflecting the reason, purpose, or methods at play. It's as if you were watching a baseball game and said "so, basically, the guy with the ball is trying to hit the guy with the bat, because he hates the Dutch".

    93. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It comes down to this: do you put an innocent person in jail? Do you judge justice soley based upon what legislators pass as law? Do you follow a law you think is unjust and apply it to others because you've been so far unable to have it overturned? No amount of justice upon a society can exist if your actions are injustice upon a person. The job of a jury and prosecutor is to seek justice. If jury nullification is the only way to seek justice, then so be it.

    94. Re:Legal system is broken by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I've always found the most interesting example of the "commit the crime on purpose to get the law in front of a court" case to be Plessy v Ferguson where everyone involved, the perpetrator, "victim," and arresting agent were all intent on having the law overturned. And failed:

      In 1890, the state of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required separate accommodations for blacks and whites on railroads, including separate railway cars. Concerned, a group of prominent black, creole, and white New Orleans residents formed the Comité des Citoyens (Committee of Citizens) dedicated to repeal the law or fight its effect. They persuaded Homer Plessy, a man of mixed race, to participate in an orchestrated test case. Plessy was born a free man and was an "octoroon" (of seven-eighths European descent and one-eighth African descent). However, under Louisiana law, he was classified as black, and thus required to sit in the "colored" car.

      On June 7, 1892, Plessy bought a first-class ticket at the Press Street Depot and boarded a "whites only" car of the East Louisiana Railroad in New Orleans, Louisiana, bound for Covington, Louisiana. The railroad company, which had opposed the law on the grounds that it would require the purchase of more railcars, had been previously informed of Plessy's racial lineage, and the intent to challenge the law. Additionally, the committee hired a private detective with arrest powers to detain Plessy, to ensure that he would be charged for violating the Separate Car Act, as opposed to a vagrancy or some other offense. After Plessy took a seat in the whites-only railway car, he was asked to vacate it, and sit instead in the blacks-only car. Plessy refused and was arrested immediately by the detective. As planned, the train was stopped, and Plessy was taken off the train at Press and Royal streets. Plessy was remanded for trial in Orleans Parish.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    95. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Going for windows was stupid.

      Want to recycle old computers? Put a lightweight linux & a web browser on them. They'll boot fast & be ok for browsing. You don't want to run anything heavy on an old box, so inability to install windows sw is not a big deal. Call it an ecological surfing box or something like that.

      No copyright violation that way.

    96. Re: Legal system is broken by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Man, that gay marriage lobby must have had a lot of money.

    97. Re:Legal system is broken by slinches · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Advocating for change of the law is good, but it doesn't help the poor guy whose life is destroyed by "proper" application of an existing unjust law. That's where things like prosecutorial discretion and jury nullification come in.

      --
      Knowledge Brings Fear
    98. Re: Legal system is broken by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Convince your representative to change a law that was bought paid for by corporations? What kind of fantasy land do you live in?

      Which corporations paid for copyright law, and when did this happen? Be specific.

    99. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it's a specific law you don't trust, ask your representatives to have that law changed, either through a direct petition or through indirect activism.

      And jury nullification is right in between the two. It's direct in one instance and indirect in all others, and it's a way to tell the state "hey, you passed a bad law."

      As the saying goes, there are the four boxes of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. The third box is when the first two have failed completely.

      And don't forget the jury box, a subtype of ballot box: covered in soap and with a single bullet inside of it.

    100. Re: Legal system is broken by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      If someone is giving away their ebook for free, are you prohibited from making a copy to give to your friend?

      No, but you also can't burn that e-book to a disc and then sell it to a customer. Which is more analogous to what he was actually doing.

    101. Re:Legal system is broken by qeveren · · Score: 1

      There's a legal doctrine called 'reliance' behind this sort of ruling. Basically where someone promises something in exchange for you doing a thing, and then when you do the thing they go "psyche!" and retract their offer (or otherwise penalize you for doing the thing).

      --
      Don't just stand there, get that other dog!
    102. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is English not your native language?

      Let me clarify a couple phrases for you...
      "As low as $x..." = usually more than $x
      "Almost every" = not every
      "has almost no authority" = has some authority

    103. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Disney. Every time Mickey Mouse comes up for public domain.

    104. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In a sane world he should have been able to claim first sale doctrine. Adding a license to a book or CD isn't a legal means of stopping someone from reselling a legally purchased book or CD. Since what is being purchased is the right to use (ie license in this case) this software the medium upon which it is distributed should not matter. You shouldn't then be able to come back and say that because the original CD was lost that a copy can't be used in substitute for something that isn't legal to prohibit in the first place (ie resale of something you purchased legally). Trademarks and copy"right" law are being abused here. I'm no fan of proprietary software, but Microsoft is going beyond what what is justified under the copy"right" law as it was sold and explicitly to unjustly extract profits from computer refurbishers and those in the second hand goods market.

    105. Re:Legal system is broken by tsstahl · · Score: 1

      Mod up! Oh, to be without points.

    106. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well , as long as they're racist murderers, then obviously we need to do something.
      Because regular plain old murder is so much better.

    107. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems entirely irrelevant. The software was freely distributed, and has no value. If you conclude he is guilty then you must also conclude that the damages are zero. The thing that had value here was not the software which was copied but the medium and services provided. Under the logic here re-installing Microsoft Windows for someone else is also illegal.

    108. Re:Legal system is broken by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      I would agree with this, except we have been told for years that we don't "own" the software, we're just renting it via license. So the discs he's selling still need to be tied to a license. you can't sell something you don't own, after all.

    109. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The earlier boxes already failed, years back, when we were ploughed over to weaponize imaginary property indiscriminately. The existence of those laws at all is post-failure.

      Declaring no confidence after an imaginary $700,000 valuation sounds right.

      You keep saying extreme measures are reserved for solving extreme problems, extreme discrepancy.

      Well, guess what?

    110. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jurors take an oath to render a "true verdict... according to the evidence".

      Jury nullification means breaking that oath.

      To advise or request a jury to do that? - it's suborning perjury.

    111. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go eat something from your foot.

    112. Re: Legal system is broken by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      This seems to be a slippery slope. He was charging for his service of creating the disc, part of which was used to cover the cost of purchasing blank media.

      According to the article he was planning to charge 25 cents. That aligns closely with the cost per blank disc.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    113. Re:Legal system is broken by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      The courts are necessary when there is a dispute. The courts never come out of nowhere to make a decision and "usurp power" or "legislate from the bench". Courts only make a decision when they have been asked to resolve a legal dispute. In the vast majority of cases, the dispute is valid and there are indeed two valid arguments to be made that need to be resolved. The executive office is not the one that decide between disputes, especially when the dispute is involve the executive as one of the parties.

      Making that decision is hard and involves many factors, such as conflicting laws, laws conflicting with the constitution, vaguely written laws and/or constitution, prior precedent, and so forth. Certainly a lot of people disagree and will claim loudly that "the intent was obvious!" but have they fully read all the arguments or just basing their ideas on what their media bubble tells them to think?

      For me, the argument of figuring out what the original intent of the legislators was is irrelevant. Legislators intentionally make laws vague on purpose, rather than spelling out in detail what their intent was. It is much easier to get laws passed if you don't go into specifics and leave a lot of wiggle room for implementation. Legislators are always free to go back and provide additional clarity should they ever get their act together.

    114. Re:Legal system is broken by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      If the president has almost unchecked powers with national security issues, then they presidents could call every issue a national security issue and become a dictator!

      It was clear from the president's actions and statements that national security was partially a smokescreen. Since the president could not just ban all muslims, in order to preserve his campaign promises he cherry picked a few countries that he felt we could piss off safely, while leaving alone other primarily muslim countries that we have strong economic ties to, and then calling it "national security".

    115. Re:Legal system is broken by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      Your argument doesn't make sense, unless you are willing to hold jurors to account for their verdicts.

      A juror is the individual tasked with listening to the evidence, and making the final decision, thus the final decision rests with them. Jury nullification isn't a special case of justice, it's the whole, entire process. If a juror cannot be held to account for their decision, which is a principal that I assume you support, then "jury nullification" is an inevitable consequence of that principal.

    116. Re:Legal system is broken by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      I agree. I may not agree with Trump doing it, but IMO, he definitely has the right to do so. Of course, any judge also has the right to stay such an order by issuing a preliminary injunction, if such an order would cause undue hardship, until such time as the order can be reviewed for constitutionality, but in the end, it seems obvious that he has the right to do so (though the argument that the teardown is being done in a way that is arbitrary and capricious is not entirely without merit, in which case it might be necessary to tear things down in a different way, such as a gradual tear-down over time).

      Realistically, I view the legal challenge (and the government's decision to not request permission to stop accepting applications in the interim) as little more than a way to delay implementation in the courts long enough to get Congress to actually pass the law that they should have passed a decade ago, while keeping the burner turned on under Congress's backsides. I'm not entirely convinced that Trump wants DACA to go away, given the way they've handled this, though it's hard to say for sure. There's certainly reason to suspect that this may all be a ploy to force Congress's hand on an issue that they keep punting down the road.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    117. Re:Legal system is broken by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Jury nullification isn't just deciding that a particular can be ignored, it's rather refuting the entire validity of the legal system. It's not something to be taken lightly.

    118. Re:Legal system is broken by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Jury nullification is also a way to make sure that the government doesn't justly punish people. Currently, it's often used to let police get away with murder.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    119. Re:Legal system is broken by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      If Snowden had only released classified information about what the TLAs were doing in the US, I'd have a much more favorable opinion of him. The NSA is supposed to spy on other countries. It's expected, and everybody knows it happens. Revealing how we do it is exactly the sort of thing that laws on classified materials were intended to stop.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    120. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes they do. Someone in jail is let out and cleared of any future problem (double jeopardy).

    121. Re:Legal system is broken by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      Yeah...... I used to assist* with organizing protests. We literally had a playbook for how to do civil disobedience. For the legal route (which was actually much more rarely a planned event), we'd try to make sure that the resulting cases couldn't be thrown out for other reasons before getting to the issue in question. For PR-focused events, we'd lean the other way, trying to arrange as many mitigating circumstances as possible and get as much media attention as possible, but minimizing the actual legal impact.

      In at least one event, we actually even staged an arrest for the cameras. The actual law broken was something trivial like jaywalking, but the officer on duty was a good friend, and made a nice big show of his (perfectly valid and legal) arrest, shouting loudly and completely ignoring the news cameras who will always turn to capture something like that. That case went through the court, a small fine was paid, and the evil jaywalker paid their debt to society... and conveniently had given a few interviews to the news crew earlier that day, which naturally made their way to the TV screen that night.

      * For what it's worth, I assisted minimally, and didn't get particularly involved. I was the sound guy for some of the pre- and post-protest discussions and meetings, so I heard the planning and the stories, but can't really claim much expertise beyond what I've said here.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    122. Re:Legal system is broken by ras · · Score: 1

      Jury nullification is, by necessity, a complete undermining of the legal and judicial process.

      Or, it's 12 randomly picked men and women not agreeing with the case made by the prosecution. Or to put it another way: it's lovely piece of jargon an incompetent prosecutor can use to shift blame away from them.

      It could be worse. If could be our politicians dreamt up a law so vile even the best prosecutor couldn't sell it to a jury. They scream "Jury nullification" from their pulpits to attack their own citizens for not being sheep.

      In either case, it's not a complete undermining of the legal and judicial process as you put it. It's one of those many checks and balances others have mentioned here. It can't undermine the process because it's a very deliberate part on it. When it happens, it doing the job it's supposed to - keeping the law within the bounds normal men and women find reasonable, regardless of what their betters think.

    123. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes and judges who ignore the "all" bit and replace it with whatever they want should be assasinated by vigilantees.

    124. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you even mention jury nullification during selection they will dismiss the entire pool. The courts don't want people to know about the concept.

    125. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That and judges ignoring consitutional duties!

    126. Re:Legal system is broken by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Gee whiz looks like I ticked off a paid Microsoft astroturfer/shill and he had mod points.

    127. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah well neither is sending someone to jail. The courts seem to take that waay too lightly these days. No wonder the united states has 25% of the world's prison population. Jury nullification should be used against all drug and virtual crimes (except actual hacking).

    128. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And THAT is the whole fucking point.

      What is the point? That you're upset that Trump has to explain his actions?

      Where in the Constitution does it say the President has to give a reason?

      The Preamble. The Amendments. The laws themselves. You know the Constitution doesn't give the President any authority to deport anybody, right? Nor Congress. They only have the ability to set the rules for naturalization, nothing else.

    129. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dumbass. What idiot would believe any of that shit if there weren't details? You are forgetting it was considered a conspiracy theory pre-snowden. Snowden did what was nessecary.

      Also revealing information about how the NSA spies on users helps us protect ourselves by knowing how to employ countersurveilance. NSA spying is illegal* so there's nothing wrong with taking countermeasures.
      *regardless of what FISC and FISCR say, as they aren't article III courts.

    130. Re:Legal system is broken by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      I've never made it all the way through juror selection, but I have heard that courts now try to get people to waive their right to nullification by getting them to swear under oath not to do it.

      I have no idea how that would ever be enforced. Can't you just tell the jury foreman you vote not-guilty and then refuse to explain how you reached that decision?

    131. Re: Legal system is broken by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 1

      Personally I think it would be a great idea to post flyers all around the local area near court buildings explaining jury nullification to educate the public and potential jurors.

      Saw this in SL,UT: posters posted on every pole explaining it.

    132. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or SJWs

    133. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go find literally any nonpolitical article on this site from the last 2 years having something to do with Russia and tell us which side shoehorns Trump into everything.

    134. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This. You can't commit perjury because you made a statement that if reevaluated in the future would change truth value.

      Like this:
      This statement is false.
      Is that true or false? The correct answer is no. It's neither, indeterminable because of infinite recursion.

    135. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That period of time was replete with bad case law that took decades to undo.

      Don't expect a movie like Inherit the Wind though.

    136. Re:Legal system is broken by aquacrayfish · · Score: 1

      Conversely, it could have been used in this case to prevent an innocent man from going to jail. Maybe the next 1000 guilty men should go free to balance this? I forget how that saying goes sometimes.

    137. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meanwhile in the real world these corporations are spending millions of dollars in lobbying for laws that benefit their interests.
      If you really believe that one person can make a difference out there then in court nullifying these ridiculous laws if where it needs to take place.
      Only then perhaps (but I fear unlikely) will your elected representatives take note.
      More than likely because the corps will be hassling them complaining that their costly pet law got nullified.

      The system has been completely gamed and is utterly corrupt.
      Pretending otherwise because you have values is not going to get you anywhere.

    138. Re:Legal system is broken by greylion3 · · Score: 1

      Microsoft produced a work eligible for copyright. They sell copies of that work.

      No, Microsoft sells a $25 license to use that work. The work is free to download.
      The $25 license is a *new* OEM license key, meant to be used with a pc that did not previously have a license key. For example, a pc that was put together from parts from other pc's of the same exact series and model.

      Lundgren made his own copies, distributed them, and benefitted from that distribution of someone else's work.

      Lundgren made copies of a freely downloadable copy of a Dell Restore Disc, as a convenience to customers, to sell with old/refurbished computers, that already *had* an OEM license key.

      Please tell me why, in very specific terms, it would be just to allow this act?

      Microsoft relies on consumers to buy a new pc with a newer version of windows when their old pc becomes unworkable, for example when a harddrive crashes, requiring a new harddrive in that pc, and then restoring the operating system with a Restore Disc, or if the file system corrupts beyond repair (or if said harddrive has a restore image which becomes corrupt), requiring again, restoring the operating system with a Restore Disc.
      By the time this happens, the Restore Disc will often have gone missing, and/or the user/customer might have forgotten/lost the information that a Restore Disc even exists, or can be downloaded for free.

      From my perspective, Lundgren was endangering sales of new licenses of newer operating systems, as well as sales of $25 licenses to go with old/refurbished pc's (as refurbishers will often go that route), by making it very convenient for users/customers to keep using old pc's with older versions of operating systems, in a way that was freely available, but seldom used, probably due to non-awareness.

      Lundgren may have been infringing copyright in a minor way, but it certainly doesn't look as if he was doing it in a for-profit way. He had set a $0.50 price target for each disc. He was even very specific as to why he got in trouble: he put an official Microsoft and Dell logo on each disc, and that's against the terms of use for (the copy of) that Restore Disc.
      Source: https://news.softpedia.com/new...

      --
      Privacy begins with ..
    139. Re:Legal system is broken by Kielistic · · Score: 1

      But it was available. The broken part is that these companies want to give it away to anyone that asks then later say "no don't use it like that".

      Copyright is a deal struck between the public and the government to promote creative works. With the unending complaints of piracy from major content producers it is clear the public at large does not agree with the current implementation of the deal.

    140. Re:Legal system is broken by sabt-pestnu · · Score: 1

      > Wrong. Try again.

      > The license use of that work. They don't sell copies of that work.

      ... and they license use of that work for free, so the damages issue is unaffected by your quibble.

    141. Re:Legal system is broken by Kielistic · · Score: 1

      If I gave you my copper pipes I wouldn't be able to sue you for selling them to meth heads. But I am not giving them to you now am I?

    142. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Are you trying to be stupid?

      Man, that gay marriage lobby must have had a lot of money.

      What major rent-seaking corporation benefited from gay marriage being illegal? No, you moron. I can't out spend Disney, TimeWarner, etc. No one can. And gay marriage was changed by the courts anyway and I'm betting you know that, but somehow think pretending to be a fucking idiot will advance your argument.

    143. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      See, there's the problem. They are called "Human Rights", not "US Citizen Rights".

      If your government's policies hurt your business, that's your problem - change your policies if you don't like it.
      When you prove to the world that your servers are insecure, your cryptography is backdoored, and you're one of the largest perpetrators of cyber terrorism and an advanced persistent threat, then either live with the consequences or change your system. Don't blame Snowden for that - he's just the messenger - blame your politicians. Your policies are to blame.

      Just because Unicef is headquartered in another country, does not make it right to hack them. Just because Belgacom serves portions of the middle east, does not make it right to cause millions of dollars of damage to a company in a foreign country. Just because you want to know what terrorists are saying does not make it right to steal every single SIM encryption key from Gemalto and harm their business. Just because China is not on best of terms with the USA, does not give you the right to hack their universities in order to commit economic espionage. Just because you want to stop the Iranians from getting nukes, does not give your the right to infect thousands of innocent computers world wide with malware you wrote. Just because your intel community wants easy access to computers everywhere does not give you the right to hoard 0-day exploits that inevitably end disastrously with a shadowbrokers style leak resulting in a global ransomware attack. Just because you want to know what some people say, does not authorize you to spend tax payer money to bribe RSA to weaken the crypto they sell. Just because you don't like that companies like Kaspersky, Lavabit and Qwest which refused to go along with your surveillance policies, does not mean your are authorized to destroy them.

      In short, just because you want to know something, doesn't mean it's ethical to use any means you want to find out. And when you decide you want to know EVERYTHING on EVERYONE, ALL THE TIME, expect a big "fuck you" from the rest of the planet (and even from any US citizen who has a shred of decency and can see past self serving partisan talking points).

      And, since it's likely I didn't convince you, I'd like to leave one thought with you: If, say, the Canadians, Brits, Auzzies or Kiwis have no expectations of Privacy from the USA since they have no human rights (clearly being subhuman and all), then you must be aware that they will inevitably set up similar policies there (in fact, as Snowden told us, the NSA helped them do it). Your data will be free to hack by any foreign government and you wont have anyone to blame but yourself. Now, to top it all off, please remember that the main thing that Snowden taught us is that these members of the 5 eyes all store their data in a global distributed database that ANY OF THEM can access. So you're for your data being collected by the other 4 of the 5 eyes, and being accessible to any US TLA (NSA, CIA, FBI, DEA) with a few simple keystrokes into xkeyscore. So go ahead, be pissed off at Snowden because some authoritarian was angry he got exposed - they know what's best for you after all. You must have 100% trust in them or the terrorists pedophiles will kill all the children (oh think of the children!).

    144. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Was there a jury? It looks to me that it was just judges. I don't think you have a jury in appeals.

    145. Re: Legal system is broken by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      Personally I think it would be a great idea to post flyers all around the local area near court buildings explaining jury nullification to educate the public and potential jurors.

      Saw this in SL,UT: posters posted on every pole explaining it.

      Well, Bravo! to the Magic Underwear folks! (I keed, I keed!)

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    146. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't Judgement as a Matter of Law make jury nullification moot?

    147. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've heard of Congress right? They are the legitimate check on this power in passing immigration laws. If this wasn't true there would be no debate about Congress "fixing immigration laws". So within the bounds of how Congress has limited the President to manage immigration laws the President is literally free to do what he wants.

    148. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What part of the difference between "selective enforcement" (e.g. "do not prioritize deporting hildren brought to the US as children") which would direct immigration staff how to do their job AND "provide Id's allowing certain illegal immigrants additional privileges such as taking out student loans". If it's not clear the latter is legislation and NOT the Presidents power to enact.

      Look, we could agree it is "ethical" or "moral" to do this but then get CONGRESS to pass a law not allow the President to act as a Dictator AND then get pissed at another President for acting the same way just because yoiu don't like the second guy.

      Seriously this is the entire issue, its not about wanting to be compassionate it's about who has the authority to enact our compassion. Allow Dictators to do it means we'll be fighting about everything one "dide" or the other decides is a "good thing"(TM) for the President to do.

    149. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Excuse me? There is NO debate that Trump wants Congress to pass a law to fix This, he's only said it dozens of times.

    150. Re: Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He did NOT "cherry pick" countries, they were all on Obama's list of "suspect countries". Trump just took that list and applied a higher level control over an already national security concern.

      What Trump may or may not have said before the election and how his statements have been represented have 0 to do with his authority as President and the wording of the Executive order.

    151. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jury nullification is the Constitutional right of a jury to ignore "the law" as dictated to them by the trial Judge and decide the case however they want. Most trial judges hate jury nullification and do everything they can to keep the jury from knowing about it or applying it.

      We don't know whether a jury might have been involved at the trial here or not. That's partly because we don't know whether the original trial was heard by a jury or decided just by the judge without any jury involved.

      If both parties agree to waive a jury (usually to save time and money, and/or because the issues are too complicated), then there doesn't necessarily need to be a jury involved in the trial court's verdict. No jury => no jury nullification.

      This case has also been in the appellate courts for a while now, and there are no juries there.

    152. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You say:

      Jury nullification is, by necessity, a complete undermining of the legal and judicial process. It is essentially taking the Constitutional architecture for our three branches of government, throwing it out the window, and saying "this mob will rule today".

      How can that be, when jury nullification comes from and is part of The Constitution?

      It was put there by the Founding Fathers as a safeguard against politicians, judges, and other "public servants" who might otherwise abuse their authority. As an attorney who tried cases for almost 15 years, I think jury nullification was a good idea at the time and should be more widely applied now.

    153. Re:Legal system is broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When I'd assemble home systems for people back when I was a teenager, I'd order a copy of Windows from my supplier and charge the customer for it. I realize this guy was expecting a much larger volume of customers, but Jesus man, he could have just ordered bulk packs of retail discs as he needs them.

      There's a transit ad in my city for a company that recycles and resells computers. There's some "Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher" logo on the ad, so whatever that is, it sounds like Microsoft already has some sort of official protocol to help people in this business and he clearly wasn't participating in it. Yeah, sounds kinda like a racket to me as well, but it's Microsoft, he should have been more careful.

      Besides, the real problem here is that he went with Windows despite how many of his customers may not have even really needed it in the first place. It would have been easier to have just thrown KDE Neon with Latte Dock and a few other preloaded commonly used applications onto slightly older systems. You could make deployment a lot faster if you find a way to roll that into a PXE image, too. No chance of lawsuits there, people get a computer with programs they recognize (Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, Steam) and it even looks like a freakin' Mac so nobody's going to complain that it's ugly or difficult to use.

    154. Re:Legal system is broken by Rakarra · · Score: 0

      They do not usurp law, that IS the law.

    155. Re: Legal system is broken by Rakarra · · Score: 0

      Pardon me brother, can you spare a couple hundred million dollars? I need to get a law changed!

      If you can get a few hundred thousand people to agree with you, then yes, that law can get changed. But if you can't, then maybe your position isn't as widespread as you think it is.

  4. It sounds like a fix was in by AlanObject · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I just don't see how this ruling could stand the way it is described here.

    If the software market value is zero, how did the original judge get to $700,000 damages? That calculation or at least argument would have to be shown. Does anyone know what it was?

    1. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by gweihir · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think he asked a "handling fee" or the like for those disks. Still an insane verdict completely out of touch with reality. But what else can you expect from members of the legal profession?

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If the software market value is zero

      There's your problem. The judges disagreed and felt that $25 was likely.

      TBH, while I intensely dislike Windows and would discourage its use if I ever owned my own business, the reality is that the software definitely has a market value of more than $0. Whether it's $25 is up in the air, but the aim was to make old hardware functional, presumably with "functional" being defined as "being capable of running Windows applications"; at the very least, the value of the operating system would be tied to what it would cost to replace the old hardware with equivalent functionality.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    3. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I just don't see how this ruling could stand the way it is described here.

      If the software market value is zero, how did the original judge get to $700,000 damages? That calculation or at least argument would have to be shown. Does anyone know what it was?

      $25 per disc x 28,000 discs

    4. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But the disk content was free to download.

    5. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not for him though.

    6. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Miser · · Score: 5, Interesting

      .... but if you can download the ISO for free (if you have a valid license or sticker, like a Dell for instance) how is that depriving Microsoft of any modicum of revenue?

      That's what I can't wrap my head around.

    7. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by DaFallus · · Score: 1

      I just don't see how this ruling could stand the way it is described here.

      If the software market value is zero, how did the original judge get to $700,000 damages? That calculation or at least argument would have to be shown. Does anyone know what it was?

      $25 per disc x 28,000 discs

      Yes, but the real question is how they determined a value of $25 per disc when the contents of said disc are available online for free.

      --
      No one cares what your captcha was

      Houston TX, USA
    8. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      The fact that the guy didn't charge anything for the disks doesn't make the market value zero, nor does the fact that Microsoft doesn't charge for a download of the disk image. Apparently Microsoft charges refurbishers $25 for a physical copy of the restore disk. And quite possibly there is a clause on the download page for the disk that states that end users can van a copy for free, but distributors are not allowed to burn a copy and sell it along with a refurbished computer.

      Even so, the sentence seems ridiculously harsh given the fact that the guy acted in good faith and didn't actually sell a single disk except in a sting operation.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    9. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $25 is probably what they sell an OEM copy of windows for to students. That said, them giving the software away for free online makes it hard to argue that the value of a restore disk is more than $0. And, if it is, it's hard to argue that the freely available content produced the value (rather than this man's labor of putting it on the disc). While it's a clear cut example of distribution without permission of the owner, the valuation is sketchy.

    10. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      My guess is that the ISO is provided free of charge to end users holding a license, but not not to refurbishers for redistribution along with used PCs. Apparently MS sells physical disks to refurbishers for $25 a pop

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    11. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't have to enter a key or anything, it's free for all because it requires a valid key to activate.

    12. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Penalty for copyright infringement is not the value of the product but a deterrent up to $250,000. Getting a fine of $25 is a bargain.

    13. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Microsoft was charging 25 for a physical disk. He undercut them with their own software.

    14. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by guruevi · · Score: 0

      It wasn't free, it was gratis, it costs time, bandwidth, server and client storage, depreciation and an empty disk and is intended to help end-users. Middle-men and resellers do not get to use that download link, because it doesn't apply to them. If Dell were downloading the image each time they needed their techs to repair a computer, Microsoft wouldn't be very happy with their consumption either.

      Selling software you do not have the license to sell is illegal, plain and simple, don't like it, use "free software", not proprietary software you obtained gratis. There is plenty of proprietary software that you do not have the license to use in a business setting as you do at home or at a non-profit, again, don't like it, use "free software" or pay the fee to use it in a business setting.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    15. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This ruling is pretty terrifying.

      I'm the OCD type who nearly always keeps everything that came with a new product I purchase, all of the manuals, cables, discs, and depending on size sometimes even the original box it came in.

      The last two OEM computers of mine that I've sold, or three if you include the one I gave away, all still had the smaller box insert with everything in them I didn't use, down to the original purchase receipt and the twist-ties for the cables - including whatever pack-in discs that came with it.

      This ruling states I'm a criminal in violation of copyright law for including the original Windows restore discs that came with the machine.

      Burnt DVDs or original pressed DVDs makes no difference, both are distributing a copyrighted work.
      Despite the fact it was $25 of my own money spent on that component, the court has ruled I don't have first sale doctrine rights to resell what I paid for and even included the receipt with.

      I wonder how many weeks or months of jail time those three PCs alone would get me...

    16. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by MiniMike · · Score: 1

      Ok, but what percentage of people who buy a refurbished pc then continue on to buy one of these $25 disks from Microsoft? I would guess the percentage is fairly low. It would seem appropriate to reduce the "damages" to reflect this number.

    17. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Are you a Microsoft employee? I don't see how any normal rational person could justify his distribution of free-as-in-beer bits software as a violation of Microsoft's rights or that the disks had any value beyond shipping/handling, a dime for the disk and a small amount for HIS time to provide the service.

      If my old computer is fucked because Microsoft Windows ate itself how am I supposed to download and burn a disk to repair it? Oh, right. With my other Microsoft Windows computer I bought just to restore the first Microsoft computer I bought. Makes sense, uh huh. In Redmond, maybe.

      This was a grave injustice. There was zero justification for a fine, much less JAIL TIME!!! for providing a useful service to victims o Microsoft' s shitty self-destroying software.

      Microsoft nor anyone else was harmed in any way by his actions.

      How is our Microsoft stock doing, shill?

    18. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ever seen a used PC with the orignal COA scratched off and replaced with a Microsoft Reseller Program COA? That's what this is all about. Microsoft wanted the license to only apply to first owner, but that got struck down in court. So then they strong-armed computer resellers into purchasing low-cost refurbished PC COAs with intimidation and implied threats. (pc shop i worked at didn't fall for it). Every PC this guy sold with the orginal COA was about $20 out of microsoft's pockets.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    19. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      This ruling states I'm a criminal in violation of copyright law for including the original Windows restore discs that came with the machine

      That's not what the ruling stated. And are you changing a handling fee for those discs?

    20. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Megol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The blurb is a lie.
      He sold the software. That is defined as software piracy - a copyright violation.

      So if you want to complain about the general state of copyright laws - do that.
      If you want to propose mob rule above laws - do that.
      If you want this specific case be handled differently in copyright law - do that.

      But don't lie and paint someone that knowingly, willingly pirated software for financial gain as a hero.

    21. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So Microsoft charges $25 for something they should send for free to their end users?

      These are bits used to restore the software to its original state after Windows trashes itself. How can they charge for it? They should be charged with a rico act violation or something.

    22. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by omnichad · · Score: 1

      They sell licenses at that rate to businesses in their refurbisher program (or maybe closer to $30). I don't know whether that includes the physical disk or not, but they would be eligible to download for their own use. Just not profit from a disc replication service.

    23. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by omnichad · · Score: 1

      The refurbisher licenses are for former enterprise licensed PCs, upgrading from Vista, and for replaced motherboards. First sale doctrine still applies to the OEM license otherwise (legally speaking).

    24. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Burnt DVDs or original pressed DVDs makes no difference, both are distributing a copyrighted work.

      One of those is protected by the first sale doctrine in the US and can always be resold.

    25. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by runar.orested · · Score: 1

      I don't know for sure, so I'm just asking. Did he sold the disks alone? 1) If he sold them separathe of the computers, yes, he did commit piracy. 2) If he reinstalled the computers with the downloadble ISOs and merely adjunted a physical copy on disk, it should not be, whenever he burned them on one by one, or used a mass duplication service. 3) If he fiddled with the disks to make them one of those multi-brand install disks that are running around internet, the crime sould not be piracy, but counterfeiting. There are refurbishing licenses if he wanted to do that legally. 4) If the merely distributed official OEM images, then he did nothing bad, and I'm pretty sure a tech service would you demand less than 25$ to do that for you, ignorant luser. After all, following that judge reasoning, I should be able to sue Microsoft because my old laptop did only include an image restoring disk, and no setup disk when I bought it. Since Microsoft sued as the affected, it does mean that they are recognicing themselves as the responsable of said disks and licenses instead of the PCs manufacturers. So, if an old XP did not include them, should not Microsoft pay me back the 25$ for the disk they cheated me of? And I want the money or a physical item, no digital downloads that can dissapear in a few years, thank you.

    26. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That kind of brings up a funny conundrum. They are making the copyright software available for free download but you need a key (that cannot be copyrighted) to activate it. However you can not give away the key that is not copyrighted. lol

    27. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This ruling states I'm a criminal in violation of copyright law for including the original Windows restore discs that came with the machine.

      Burnt DVDs or original pressed DVDs makes no difference, both are distributing a copyrighted work.
      Despite the fact it was $25 of my own money spent on that component, the court has ruled I don't have first sale doctrine rights to resell what I paid for and even included the receipt with.

      Reselling something you bought (first sale doctrine), or including the original discs when selling the hardware, isn't infringed by this ruling at all. You're completely wrong.

      Eric Lundgren wasn't reselling what he bought, he was making copies and selling those without having licenses either for reselling or for the individual discs. You can resell any disk you buy, so long as you include the license as well. You could even give that disc away without the license, or loan it to someone for them to copy, so long as you aren't selling it.

    28. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he's right.

      > Microsoft wanted the license to only apply to first owner, but that got struck down in court. So then they strong-armed computer resellers into purchasing low-cost refurbished PC COAs with intimidation and implied threats.

      That's literally what MS did. MS doesn't care if its a corporate sticker (which half the time they force you to buy a license with the machine anyways) or a OEM personal. They want you as the refurbisher to peel off any sticker you find and put on a new one.

      As an example of this ridiculousness: MS decided that they no longer wanted to provide Win98 licenses to refurbishers. They sent us a letter demanding that we send back _all_ of our unused stickers, and buy the new XP ones. I asked them if they were going to refund us the $30 a pop we paid for the old stickers, and the representative said no.

      We told them we ran out of stickers the day before.

    29. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He only "sold" the software if you look it from an unreasonably technical standpoint. He apparently was intending to give the disks out for a tiny $0.25 copy fee. He wasn't going to profit from it by any means, I would bet he would lose a small amount of money in terms of time and disk copying fees.

    30. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The "market value" could have been higher. MS charges $40 for "replacement disks" if you need one to fix a laptop, for instance, that has the "restore" partition broken, and the manufacturer no longer supplies one.

      I had to do that for an old laptop that I used for a Win10 tester, because the original Win7 would not accept SP1 or even any RTM updates even after a full restore. Buying the replacement "disk" (actually, an ISO to burn myself) from MS to provide a clean starting platform for the Win10 upgrade was cheaper than buying a full-retail Win10.

    31. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      It wasn't free, it was gratis, it costs time, bandwidth, server and client storage, depreciation and an empty disk and is intended to help end-users.

      So what you're saying is, this guy saved Microsoft money by using an image for $X computers instead of having each end purchaser download their own copy?

    32. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The computers once had software, but the disk drives were removed. The computers still had a license for said software, in fact they had a key glued right to the case. Therefore, Microsoft had already been renumerated for their work.

      They offered free to download .iso images on their site, specifically so that people who had some sort of hardware failure (say a disk drive) could repair their system, precisely because OEMs no longer provide a recovery disk, and instead rely on a recovery partition on the disk drive itself. If for any reason the drive fails, so does your chance at recovery.

      Anyone in the world could have downloaded this file, used one of the still valid license keys which is tied to this hardware, and had a working computer powered by Windows shortly thereafter. He could have just as well set up a terminal which his customers could use which would download the iso, burn the iso to DVD, and off they go. To any casual observer, this would same process the individual customer would or could do at home, legally.

      The only difference is the volume he did it in--and the fact that he charged for the service of burning the disk.

    33. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agree that the ruling doesn't say that. Even if the computer is resold, the OEM copy of Windows that came with the computer can certainly be passed along with it. The OEM license is tied to the hardware, not its sale to you. Of course, any backups you made have to be provided along with the computer, or destroyed - you can't keep anything related to it. And you don't do this as a business, right? If you're a business, MS has different rules as described by others (which may or may not be enforceable - in this case they apparently were).

    34. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by kenh · · Score: 1

      At 25Â/disc, he would collect $7,000 selling copies of other people's software.

      What he really wanted was to make his E-Waste computers more valuable by more easily allowing his customers to run Windows on them.

      --
      Ken
    35. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by kenh · · Score: 1

      Hisdisc was effectively similar to the disc that might have shipped with a given computer, it was not a copy of the disc as shipped with the computer. For example, he likely ensured the image had updates and any applicable service pack applied before ordering 28K discs.

      Also, he intended to offer the discs to all comers, no proof you owned the proper computer that came with the COA appropriate for the version of Windows on his disc,

      --
      Ken
    36. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by kenh · · Score: 1

      This ruling states I'm a criminal in violation of copyright law for including the original Windows restore discs that came with the machine.

      No, it doesn't.

      You included original discs with the computer, this case involves someone that hired a third-party to press 28,000 copies of the windows install disc, then he planned to sell them for 25Â/ea with no requirement that you have the corresponding computer the software shipped with.

      The only way this ruling could apply to you would be if you took your original disc and sold it to someone other than the person you sold the computer to.

      --
      Ken
    37. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by kenh · · Score: 1

      Because you lost/failed to create the re-install media your device shipped with - you are asking for a replacement part that needs to be created, pressed, warehouseed and shipped - why should MS do all that for free?

      --
      Ken
    38. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by kenh · · Score: 1

      If my old computer is fucked because Microsoft Windows ate itself how am I supposed to download and burn a disk to repair it? Oh, right. With my other Microsoft Windows computer I bought just to restore the first Microsoft computer I bought. Makes sense, uh huh. In Redmond, maybe.

      What did you do with the recovery disc?

      Why didn't you burn recovery discs if not included?

      Why didn't you back up your computer?

      That you failed to do any of the above is not Microsoft's fault, they don't owe you another recovery disc.

      --
      Ken
    39. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by SinGunner · · Score: 1

      Assuming he's not an idiot and downloaded ONE copy, rather than downloading a new copy for each CD, the bandwidth and storage costs are virtually zero. Not sure how you got modded insightful.

    40. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are misinterpreting. You have to ask yourself a couple questions...

      Are you selling the computer and all others come with it? Or are you selling the disc and all other comes with it? Or both? If your answer is yes to the first question only, then it is OK. However, if your answer is yes to either the second or the third question, then you are benefiting from MS copyrighted software. As a result, you are in the wrong.

      After selling your computer, do you still have a copied of the disc? If the answer is No, then you didn't violate the copyrighted law. You just transferred the goods to the new owner. If you do, then yes, you are in the wrong because you made an illegal copied of the software regardless the original copied is not been charged to the new owner.

    41. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is great news.. we can fix out national debt. We need to copy a million of these and air drop them on China. We will send them the bill. When they refuse to pay, we will declare it a net loss of trillions of dollars from all the windows CD. From the high national tax write off, nobody will have to pay taxes the next year. Yea. I love economics and the value of Windows CDs

    42. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The disks were no more than useless, bricked frisbees without the license key. What he distributed didn't become the copyrighted software until a valid license key was entered, so he did not distribute or sell software in any manner of speaking.

    43. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      I kind of feel it was the charging that made what he was doing alarming to MS. Not that the other stuff isn't illegal but charging definitely would put him higher on the radar.

    44. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A sale when it puts a man in jail, a license when it prevents first-sale rights.

      Microsoft doesn't sell software, they sell licenses to use the software. This man did not sell software or licenses. He sold disks with free software on them.

    45. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. Enough of this nonsense. He had no right to what he was selling and regardless of who may or may not have bought it at the legal vendor's rate has no bearing on anything. Next you'll be saying that you should be able to eat a meal and then determine it's value afterwards and that should be the rate at which you're charged.

    46. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by slinches · · Score: 1

      Microsoft lets you download a restore disk for free. Why can't you hire someone to download the image and copy it to a disk for you? Or one small step further, buy one from someone who has already made the copy ahead of time?

      --
      Knowledge Brings Fear
    47. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by guruevi · · Score: 1

      The software is NOT free-as-in-beer. That's the thing, they are giving the disks to end-users as a courtesy, resellers need to pay at least for OEM licenses. Even if you sell the computer hardware, the software license typically doesn't come with it unless you do an explicit transfer in writing and even then, the license can only transfer between end users.

      Again, if you don't like the license don't use it, or don't understand the license, talk to a lawyer.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    48. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're gonna paint yourself into a corner by billing for a service, not a product. MS is leaning on theft of imaginary property.

      Maybe don't rush to the company-is-entitled angle next time.

    49. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Ever built your own PC and wanted to legally install MS Windows on it? That costs money. For OEM licenses, the Windows cost is bundled with the computer, but it isn't free. I paid an extra $100 to get Windows 10 Pro rather than Windows 10 Home. The software market value is significant.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    50. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      No, he was putting copies on computers without paying Microsoft for each one, like Dell does. Dell has a license agreement with Microsoft, and this guy didn't.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    51. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by kenh · · Score: 1

      The question was about MS charging $25 to send an end user a recovery disc - that is what I was responding to...

      --
      Ken
    52. Re: It sounds like a fix was in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next you'll be saying that you should be able to eat a meal and then determine it's value afterwards and that should be the rate at which you're charged.

      That may be the worst analogy I've ever read.

    53. Re:It sounds like a fix was in by greylion3 · · Score: 1

      Apparently MS sells physical disks to refurbishers for $25 a pop

      If you look into it, I'm sure refurbishers buy the discs from the OEM (Dell, Lenovo, etc.)

      --
      Privacy begins with ..
  5. Surprised by decision by VikingNation · · Score: 2

    That decision is surprising. Is there more to this story that is not presented in this Slashdot article?

    1. Re:Surprised by decision by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 1

      He downloaded and sold somebody else's work. I'm not sure what more you'd need to know.

      There was a previous Slashdot article on this guy, I think it was in the last few months, that has a lot more detail and discussion.

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
  6. So great, go police! by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm glad the government is wasting money on this instead of tracking down the thief that stole my car.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:So great, go police! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get the MS Legal team to talk to the judge for ya, they know how to lube.

    2. Re:So great, go police! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The government has determined that your stolen car is not worth $700,000.

    3. Re:So great, go police! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm glad the government is wasting time on this instead of tracking me down and taking away my new car.

    4. Re:So great, go police! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try to change the story to be all about you. Are you Donald Trump?

    5. Re:So great, go police! by organgtool · · Score: 4, Funny

      The person that stole your car only deprived you of transportation but this motherfucker was COPYING BITS!

    6. Re:So great, go police! by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      Just download a new car.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    7. Re: So great, go police! by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't download a car. I wouldn't copy a floppy. Wait In confused.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  7. Let this be a lesson... by supremebob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you're going to make OS restore disks for old computers, make sure that they use open source software!

    If this guy was making Ubuntu or CentOS based restore DVD's, he wouldn't be going to prison right now. Sure, he would have got more tech support calls from people who were confused by the new UI, but that's nothing compared through the hell he's going through.

    Oh, and I hope that this story gets national attention. Microsoft deserves a good PR hit for going after this guy.

    1. Re:Let this be a lesson... by MitchDev · · Score: 1

      What OS? If it isn't supported by M$ anymore, it should be made public domain anyway

    2. Re:Let this be a lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That it not how it works. When the copyright expires, it becomes public domain.

      If he sell old computers, I second the use of pre-installed FOSS software. He can then make a guide or sell the service on how to install older versions of Windows, given that the customer have or buys a valid license. Just because we don't like non-free software doesn't mean we can do what we want with it.

    3. Re:Let this be a lesson... by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      Lord no. Then we would have even more outdated and unsecured computers out there.

      Open source software is the correct answer here

    4. Re:Let this be a lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Open source operating systems are shit. They aren't valuable to an overwhelming majority of customers. While I agree Microsoft is in the wrong here, that's not enough reason to sell people new computers with garbage software reinstalled.

    5. Re:Let this be a lesson... by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 3, Informative

      That it not how it works. When the copyright expires, it becomes public domain.

      Thanks to a bought and sold congress and Mickey Mouse that expiration date is infinity minus one.

    6. Re:Let this be a lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bullcrap, he was selling them. If you setup a shop and start selling slackware, linux mint, and fedora CD's for $15 a pop do you think those foundations are going to be happy?

    7. Re:Let this be a lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have every right to sell Slackware, Fedora or Mint CDs for $15, or $1500 a pop.

    8. Re:Let this be a lesson... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not true. Despite, or perhaps because of, all the warnings to the contrary, a whole bunch of stuff is due to enter the public domain at the beginning of next year - the first time in 20 years this has happened.

      Of course there's still theoretically time to extend that, but it doesn't even seem to be on Congress's radar right now.

      If the duration gets extended before 2023 (when Steamboat Willie expires), then you'll have a more convincing talking point.

    9. Re:Let this be a lesson... by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The software in question was less than 28 years old, so even by the reasonable copyright laws of my youth this would be infringement.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    10. Re:Let this be a lesson... by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Actually, yes. From the FSF's point of view, not only are you distributing their software (which they want), but you're making money for doing a good deed. The points of the licenses are very different.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    11. Re:Let this be a lesson... by strikethree · · Score: 1

      Thanks to a bought and sold congress and Mickey Mouse that expiration date is infinity minus one.

      No. Lawrence Lessig tried that argument in front of the Supreme Court and it did not fly. It is only like 170 years or so. Only. *sigh*

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  8. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    He should go to jail for foisting windows on 28,000 people. Can't someone think of the children?

  9. A big win! by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, repairing computers is obviously stealing from manufacturers of new ones and re-using valid Windows licenses is obviously stealing from MS! This person got what he deserved for his unpatriotic, almost treasonous actions. True Americans throw things away when they get old or break! This person was trying to sabotage capitalism and the rich getting richer. We cannot have that. So I am 100% behind this ruling, except that the sentence is wayyyy to lenient. Maybe we can find some terrorism charge in there as well? Maybe something like "inciting people to not buy new computers" or the like? After all, this _is_ threatening the stabiliy of society, just like terrorism.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:A big win! by supremebob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Somebody should send a Tweet to Bill Gates, and ask him how this ruling "helps" his cause for providing technology for low income people and developing countries. Seems like it would do quite the opposite.

    2. Re:A big win! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His brand of capitalism ran afoul of the nice, ordered, crony capitalism of the venerable Microsoft. If entrepreneurs are allowed to exist, by golly, they'll threaten the entrenched market share of Microsoft and Apple... two companies who swallow on the first date.

      Don't let the evil free market entrepreneurs win. Stick with the devil you know!

    3. Re:A big win! by MitchDev · · Score: 1

      It only matters to Bill if he can claim it as a tax-write for "charitable" donations...

    4. Re:A big win! by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Somebody should send a Tweet to Bill Gates, and ask him how this ruling "helps" his cause for providing technology for low income people and developing countries. Seems like it would do quite the opposite.

      Where do you think most "recycled" e-waste goes? By extending the life of older computers he is actively preventing poor people in developing countries from getting technology. And even worse, because of this guy, there are kids somewhere in Asia that won't eat tonight because they were unable to sit there in toxic smoke burning off valuable materials from the components of these computers! Why does he hate poor people?

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    5. Re:A big win! by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      If the "stability of society" means asshole corporations like Miscreant-o-soft running roughshod over people who did nothing wrong, then we must all be dead and this is Hell. Time to get the guillotine out of storage and drive it up to Redmond.

    6. Re:A big win! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guess you missed the nuanced point of how the guy made almost a million dollars selling Microsoft's software...yet another rich person for you entitled socialists to cry about.

  10. Florida? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this the whole reason for the apparently insane legal decisions?

  11. Dangerous Precedent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would the court also value free Linux distribution disks at some value each? Why would the computers have a license key pasted on the side or the bottom if it could never be used?

    Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.

    1. Re:Dangerous Precedent? by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Depends on the Linux distribution. If it's RHEL, probably, if it's Debian, probably not. The license has a lot to do with it. You can't download Oracle or Red Hat Linux without a proper license. They may give away licenses to home users and non-profits but for-profit businesses are expected to pay. Another one of those is TeamViewer, plenty of people use it, but in a business setting you're supposed to pay for it and yes, they do go after companies using the free version.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re:Dangerous Precedent? by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      Yes, the courts have determined that open-source software is still valuable.

      As for the key codes, they're still usable with legally-produced media, like the small stack of old Windows disks I have on a bookshelf, or anything Microsoft (or its licensees) might still produce and sell.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    3. Re:Dangerous Precedent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends on the Linux distribution. If it's RHEL, probably, if it's Debian, probably not. The license has a lot to do with it. You can't download Oracle or Red Hat Linux without a proper license.

      Nobody in their right mind would use RHEL or Oracle on their desktop.

      That would be just like running Windows Server (or whatever that's called) on your home computer.

  12. Proprietary Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can hardly feel sorry for the people's addiction to proprietary software. We of the free software movement have long been teaching that proprietary software of all kinds (such as Microsoft Windows) will not respect the users' freedom; the owners of these software will punish users who fail to respect their sovereignty as the owner of the software. It may be more expensive over the short term (the first few years) but an investment into developing free software will mean you will always have the freedom to live with your computer without a software master surveilling your life in their mandate to assert their authority.

    1. Re:Proprietary Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would say I'm at 80% open source operating systems on my devices, and 90% open source software on my devices. I'm probably less than 1% open source games though. I do have a PS2, XBox and Wii, but those never touch the internet, so they should be safe from vendor tampering unless there is a time bomb in the BIOS. I am guilty of having a PS3 and PS4, but so far I haven't had any problems with those, and I never used the Linux feature on my PS3. Unfortunately I do have a few Microsoft devices. I dual boot to Windows for games not on Linux. I have another minimal Windows computer to run a few applications, and I have an Xbox 360 for some exclusive games.

      I can say that every time I switch a device to open source and get through the short adjustment period, I get a little bit happier.

    2. Re:Proprietary Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm glad to see that your software is working adequately for you. Best wishes for the future that the software you use will adequately fulfill your needs.

  13. How is this newsworthy? by newdsfornerds · · Score: 1

    Who gives a flying crap about Microsoft's stinking licenses?

    --
    Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
    1. Re:How is this newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      because someone got jail time for downloading something and placing it on a disk.

    2. Re:How is this newsworthy? by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Anyone promoting Microsoft products in business should go to jail imho.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    3. Re:How is this newsworthy? by PPH · · Score: 1

      So what he was doing was downloading something freely available and selling it copied to a disk. Not 'stealing' Windows (or any component of it) since a valid Windows license would still be needed by the end user. Essentially, he was charging for the service of burning a copy of the restore utility to a CD.

      Sadly, he might have mislead people into thinking it was a Microsoft CD. It was a Microsoft restore utility, just not on their media.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:How is this newsworthy? by Mr0bvious · · Score: 1

      Well you can see where that got this guy can't you.

      --
      Never happened. True story.
    5. Re: How is this newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. Somebody got jail time for PIRATING software and making money by selling the copies.

    6. Re:How is this newsworthy? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Depends. Distributing XP or 7 should be a civil offense only, but any distribution of 8 or 10 should be a criminal act.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  14. The law is an ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Enough said.

  15. What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He was selling those discs at a very healthy profit and they were literally counterfeits intended to make buyers believe they were genuine products.

  16. Microsoft needs to publicly petition the judge by SocietyoftheFist · · Score: 1

    They know they weren't being hurt. They need to make a public plea and help a further appeal.

  17. The hillary defense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    'He didn't intend to commit a crime.'

    I hear that works great.

  18. Actual laws matter by martyros · · Score: 5, Interesting

    “I thought it was freeware,” Lundgren told the Times. “... The value’s in the license. They didn’t understand that.”

    It may be that the value is in the license, but that doesn't change the way the actual laws work. The idea is in the word: "copyright" is a right to make copies. It doesn't matter whether money changed hands: Microsoft has a copyright on those bits, and he copied them without their permission, so legally, he violated their copyright.

    Is it a jerk move on Microsoft's part, to prosecute this guy for helping people keep software working which they've already paid for? Sure, and they deserve to be publicly shamed for it.

    But there's nothing wrong with this ruling from a legal perspective. Everyone benefits when the law is clear and applied consistently, and in this case it was. Remember that those same laws which allow Microsoft to prosecute a guy for copying "free" bits also allow people who write GPL software to prosecute companies for copying "free" bits without giving back their changes.

    --

    TCP: Why the Internet is full of SYN.

    1. Re:Actual laws matter by Insanity+Defense · · Score: 2

      Microsoft is part of a group that wants GPL users to go easy on violators and work with them to stop the violation without recourse to courts or financial settlements. Obviously Microsoft doesn't think that philosophy applies to violating their proprietary licenses. Exactly as I expected.

    2. Re: Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Proprietary licenses are a cancer. Anyone touching them is asking for trouble. He found out the hard way.

    3. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is everything wrong with this ruling. Imprisonment for a non violent offense? Worst case should be a fine or return the money made.

      Prison is for dangerous or violent felons, or repeat offenders who cannot reform themselves. Not for somebody who ignorantly violates a license agreement.

    4. Re:Actual laws matter by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      I don't have mod points, so all I can do is agree.

      The law (and the court) doesn't care about what society wants or doesn't want. It only cares about what's legal, and the law here is pretty clearly set against Lundgren. He copied other peoples' work without their permission, caused them harm (in the loss of a market for their work), and personally gained (even just fame) from it. Those aren't all necessary factors, but together they make a pretty damning case.

      These are indeed the same considerations that give other licenses like the GPL its own legal power, held up by the legal framework of the past few thousand years. If Microsoft copies GPL software* without complying fully with the GPL, they are causing harm and their own gain without permission, and are just as open to a lawsuit as this "innovator".

      * Note that with the Windows Subsystem for Linux coming into use, GPL violations become much more likely for anyone building a custom system using WSL and integrating open-source components. Be careful, and check your licenses, folks!

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    5. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It may be that the value is in the license, but that doesn't change the way the actual laws work. The idea is in the word: "copyright" is a right to make copies.

      So, what you are saying is that it's the copy that matters and the license that has zero value?

    6. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He did violate their copyright, but to actually punish someone for doing that there have to be damages. In effect they decided that this guy was costing Microsoft $25 each time he copied something that they give away for free.

    7. Re:Actual laws matter by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      No. He is explaining one of the aspects of copyright law. He did not discuss values of licenses versus copies.

    8. Re:Actual laws matter by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But there's nothing wrong with this ruling from a legal perspective. Everyone benefits when the law is clear and applied consistently, and in this case it was.

      The cost of keeping a person who is no threat to anyone in jail is certainly a loss and no, citizens who bear that cost do not benefit from it. Probation would have been appropriate, the fine was out of balance. Allowing the separation of legal system from a justice system is most definitely part of the problem. Bad law is bad law, even when applied consistently. People like you who stand by bad law and defend bad decisions that defy common sense are part of the problem.

    9. Re:Actual laws matter by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      Yes, but like the article points out value matters.
      Microsoft has a long history proving that the market value of these bits are zero. yes, absolutely, he stole, but he stole a something we know is worth $0 dollars.

      From there, do you not have to either pursue a fraud charge, or admit that the guy was just providing a service?

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    10. Re:Actual laws matter by alexgieg · · Score: 2

      held up by the legal framework of the past few thousand years

      Hundreds. There were a few earlier precedents, but the earliest laws resembling modern copyright come from the 17th century. See Wikipedia's History of copyright law.

      --
      Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
    11. Re: Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only thing wrong with this ruling was the guilty verdict, the fine, and the jail time for harming no one at all in any way.

      Other than that, rock on, Microsoft shill!

    12. Re:Actual laws matter by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      Copyright laws refer to licensing, which in turn stems from contract law, which comes from common-law agreements, which have been enforceable since Babylon. Yes, copyright's a fairly new concept, but it's based on far older ideas.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    13. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      America: Fuck yeah! Freedom is the only way (The amount of freedom is directly tied to the amount of dollars in your wallet. Any imbalance of freedom will be deducted from the poor at your discretion).

    14. Re:Actual laws matter by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      Is it a jerk move on Microsoft's part, to prosecute this guy for helping people keep software working which they've already paid for? Sure, and they deserve to be publicly shamed for it.

      This could not be more wrong.

      1. Microsoft didn't prosecute him -- the federal government did.
      2. According to the original WaPo article, Microsoft actually intervened to help Lundgren by explaining to the court that the value of the restore discs was only $25, not the $299 the prosecutors had originally alleged:

      Initially, federal prosecutors valued the disks at $299 each, the cost of a brand-new Windows operating system, and Lundgren’s indictment claimed he had cost Microsoft $8.3 million in lost sales. By the time of sentencing, a Microsoft letter to Hurley and a Microsoft expert witness had reduced the value of the disks to $25 apiece, stating that was what Microsoft charged refurbishers for such disks.

    15. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, plenty of white collar crimes result in prison time. Ever seen Office Space?

    16. Re: Actual laws matter by kenh · · Score: 1

      His fine was less than $2/disc, is that really so unreasonable?

      His plan was to use the 28,000 illegal discs to increase the value of his inventory - including the disc with the computer likely increased the resale value of his computers by well more than $2/each.

      --
      Ken
    17. Re: Actual laws matter by kenh · · Score: 1

      Ignorantly violates copyright law 28,000 times.

      At some point the sheer number of disc involved kicks this case out of the 'slap on the wrist' category.

      So is it your contention that so-called 'white collar' criminals, whose crimes are non-violent, should never go to jail?

      --
      Ken
    18. Re:Actual laws matter by alexgieg · · Score: 1

      Copyright laws refer to licensing, which in turn stems from contract law

      No. When it comes to contract law, intellectual property worked like this: person A with money contracts person B with skill to make a book/song/art/whatever; B makes it and delivers it to A; it's now A's to do with it as he pleases. A then contracts C to copy it, and gives/sells/whatever the copy to D. The copy is now D's to do with as he pleases. Wash, rinse, repeat.

      Now, it's evident that in the past B could put as an additional restriction in his contract with A that A wouldn't make copies and wouldn't allow others to make copies. Insofar as both A and B signed that contract, then yes, it'd be enforceable by B upon A. But it was a contract between B and A only. If C entered A's house, made a copy, then passed it forward, B might have cause to sue A for not protecting B's creation. And A would have cause to ask for C to be imprisoned. But the copy out in the wild? No claim over it by anyone, at all. And whoever wanted to copy it further could, as they had no contract with anyone, much less B, about it.

      Copyright law subverts that traditional system by inventing a "right to copy" that was actually an enforced restriction on the original, unlimited natural right to make copies every able-bodied human being always had. That was the fairly recent novelty it introduced.

      --
      Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
    19. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are assuming he will actually go to prison. It is more likely he will be given a set of rules to follow, that if he breaks, he will then go to prison.

    20. Re:Actual laws matter by ImprovOmega · · Score: 1

      That's not a problem with the ruling ,that's a problem with the law. I agree that the law needs to be changed, but that's not up to the judge to decide and say "hey, this law sucks, I won't convict people under it", because then the rule of law goes out the window entirely.

    21. Re:Actual laws matter by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      That's almost completely separate from what I'm talking about.

      Yes, copyright is a new concept. It's a recent idea that thought is valued like physical labor, mostly stemming from the printing press and other duplication mechanisms removing the traditionally inseparable connection between the creation of a concept and the production of a physical format.

      Along with the creation of copyright, though, we quickly came up with the notion of applying licensing to copyright. Licensing had been around before in the form of trade marks and brands, mostly controlled by the state to show that the right palms had been greased for commerce to move. With copyright, licensing is the big exception: nobody can make a copy, except a licensee.

      The laws and norms around licensing trace their history back to binding contracts, completely separately from copyright, and that's the part that is older. Having licenses as a general permission system was mostly tied to trade, where sea captains and caravan drivers would be hired to do business as agents of their sponsoring companies... but only so long as their license allowed.

      Now, this idea of agency dates back to at least the Romans and the delegation that was necessary for their widespread empire, but it was all backed by a still-older legal power in a binding contract. The notion that you could sign an agreement and face legal consequences for breaking it is really the foundation there, and it comes with all of the thorny issues related to such things:

      • Who can enter a contract?
      • Can an agent cause someone else to be bound by a contract?
      • What formalities are required to make a contract?
      • Who has to know about the contract for it to be valid?
      • What are the consequences for breaking the agreement?
      • Who enforces those consequences?

      Those questions are not new to copyright, or really even new to civilization. In fact, some of the oldest writing samples we've ever found have been contracts, promising to fulfill various trade agreements between vendors, or warning of consequences for offenses. They certainly don't look like modern contracts, but they met the standards of the day.

      What is new in contracts is how widespread they've become. Nearly every commercial activity today is governed by a contract of some kind, whether in the form of usage agreements, employment terms, or even less-obvious things like bills of sale or marriages. This is a more modern development from just around the last century, mostly due to having more free labor, and establishing a legal system in England that allowed anyone (not just nobles or wealthy businessmen) to use the courts to resolve disputes.

      With so much of modern law revolving around contracts, it's absurd to attempt to consider just "copyright" as itself, without also understanding the context of licensing, especially since the sentence you originally quoted was in reference to the GPL. Without copyright, the GPL would still be a legally-valid agreement for anyone who chose to abide by it, but there would be no reason one would have to agree to it.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    22. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why you should always burn buildings down.

    23. Re:Actual laws matter by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The point of GPLs is to encourage other people to contribute their changes. If the violator stops the violation, then the violator is doing what the GPL wants. The point of the proprietary license is to make money off copies. If a violator stops the violation, then the violator isn't doing what the license was intended for without paying money.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    24. Re:Actual laws matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It may be that the value is in the license, but that doesn't change the way the actual laws work. The idea is in the word: "copyright" is a right to make copies. It doesn't matter whether money changed hands: Microsoft has a copyright on those bits, and he copied them without their permission, so legally, he violated their copyright.

      Is it a jerk move on Microsoft's part, to prosecute this guy for helping people keep software working which they've already paid for? Sure, and they deserve to be publicly shamed for it.

      But there's nothing wrong with this ruling from a legal perspective. Everyone benefits when the law is clear and applied consistently, and in this case it was. Remember that those same laws which allow Microsoft to prosecute a guy for copying "free" bits also allow people who write GPL software to prosecute companies for copying "free" bits without giving back their changes.

      There's a great deal wrong from this ruling from a legal perspective. US copyright law provides for "fair usage" as a consequence of the existence of the 9th Amendment. Further, the 9th Amendment right to ethical practice of law is applicable: the Constitution provides for exclusive use for a limited time, but that could easily be a month or a year - there's no obligation for copyright law to be implemented with exclusive use (meaning control via contract) for an extended period of time.

      The Bill of Rights is, of course, the highest law in the land, superseding all Acts of Congress, all Treaties, and even the pre-Bill of Rights Constitution when they come into conflict.

      As US legal professionals derive the majority of their income from contract related matters, the conflict of interest here is clear. To be complaint with the 9th Amendment right to ethical practice of law, even the appearance of conflict of interest must be avoided when alternatives exist, and thus it is clear that US copyright law, in it's current form, violates the US Bill of Rights.

      In short, Microsoft might have been able to legitimately claim some of the gross, but there is no legitimate basis for criminal action - the long term protection of this material via contract is a Bill of Rights violation. Any law or precedent to the contrary is illegal. By definition, rights retained by the people are retained by the people and hence can not be taken away by ANY court - superseding even the authority of the Supreme Court.

      In short, this ruling comes down to government and third party lawyers saying "we don't have to obey the law, and there's nothing you can do about it".

      There has been all kinds of illegal and criminal collusion here between legal professionals and government officials - and somebody has been put in jail because the sociopaths involved can't keep their hands out of the cookie jar.

      Note that this ruling, in addition to being illegal, is also not in the economic interests of society - providing reasonable protection of author's rights AS INDIVIDUALS is not the same thing as maximizing the income of US legal profession or of corporations or of the wealthy. The entire purpose of having copyright law has been corrupted - and as is pointed out in The Captured Economy, this is one of the reasons for excessive concentration of wealth in the USA today - with all kinds of economic harm resulting to the poor and the middle class.

      The real question is why does the American public allow this sort of thing to happen? No sensible parent would allow their children to be greedy, self-centered, and short-sighted - but for some reason we tolerate that in our business leaders, our lawyers, our judges, and the rest of our government. When are people going to decide to change this broken system? How many times are we going to let government get away with breaking the law, and let the lawyers get away with being unethical?

  19. Post mortem by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 2

    When the post mortem on the US is written a big factor, certainly in the top 5, will be foolish judicial decisions. Some are big, like legal bribery via McDonnell v. United States and saying that cash is free speech, some are small like this one. But too many bad decisions and bad precedents are being made.

    1. Re:Post mortem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The truth is, if you've got the money you can get any decision you'd like out of the courts. That's the problem with our capitalism rules all philosophy. It literally rules EVERY action of our government, and most actions in our lives.

      To us people on the bottom few rungs of the capitalism ladder, it looks like a clusterfuck of failure about to descend on our heads. But those up top are enjoying the view, and are utterly mystified as to why there's so much churning and grumbling beneath them.

  20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2nWfIap2k by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is that a Windows OS restore disk?

    Yes Sir!

  21. America - land of the free ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you can afford it, that is.

  22. He used Microsoft and Dell logos on the disc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From TFA: 'Unfortunately, in what seems to have been a huge mistake, the disks had “labels nearly identical to the discs provided by Dell for its computers and had the Windows and Dell logos,” the Times wrote.' He told the paper, “If I had just written ‘Eric’s Restore Disc’ on there, it would have been fine.”

  23. Silly argument since he was selling them by raymorris · · Score: 1

    He produced a bunch of disks to sell.
    Then argued in court that they had no value.

    I dislike Microsoft as much as anyone, but the defendant in this case contradicts himself.

    Microsoft's argument is that only they have the right to sell Windows disks, he did not.

    1. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So, now software is bought AND licensed?

      Bought a copy o the software? Sorry, you don't have a license.

      Licensed the software? Sorry, you haven't bought a copy.

    2. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by EndlessNameless · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This guy never had a license.

      He was burning copies of the software and selling discs to people who had licenses. He wasn't authorized to distribute the software, and he was making money doing so. Those are the requirements for criminal copyright infringement.

      If you wanna play with other people's code, you have to follow their rules. Sorry, but that's how proprietary software works in the US. You opt into that system when you decide to buy or sell it.

      Personally, I think it's stupid to send him to prison when he was honestly trying to offer a service to others. Maybe he's not allowed to offer that service, but he wasn't trying to hurt anyone either. I believe a minimal fine is reasonable---just enough to say "you're not supposed to do that". The prison sentence is especially pointless when a threat of repeat fines would deter him---he's a businessman, after all.

      --

      ---
      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
    3. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This guy never had a license.

      He was burning copies of the software and selling discs to people who had licenses. He wasn't authorized to distribute the software, and he was making money doing so. Those are the requirements for criminal copyright infringement.

      If you wanna play with other people's code, you have to follow their rules. Sorry, but that's how proprietary software works in the US. You opt into that system when you decide to buy or sell it.

      Personally, I think it's stupid to send him to prison when he was honestly trying to offer a service to others. Maybe he's not allowed to offer that service, but he wasn't trying to hurt anyone either. I believe a minimal fine is reasonable---just enough to say "you're not supposed to do that". The prison sentence is especially pointless when a threat of repeat fines would deter him---he's a businessman, after all.

      I agree he broke the law. I disagree with the law that makes copyright infringement a criminal offense rather than a civil offense with a fine.

    4. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by ThePyro · · Score: 1

      TBF he probably didn't make any money. He ultimately sold the CDs for about $0.12 each to a single buyer (who was cooperating with the government as part of a sting operation). After producing and shipping the disks from overseas, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he lost money on the deal.

    5. Re: Silly argument since he was selling them by kenh · · Score: 1

      It has always been this way - there are many examples of software that is licensed, not sold, and software that once bought is licensed.

      --
      Ken
    6. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This guy never had a license.
      He was burning copies of the software and selling discs to people who had licenses.

      Both of those are factually incorrect.
      The judge said as much, and Microsoft says as much.

      OEM licenses are never assigned to a person, they are assigned to the computer and travel with that computer.

      Upon (legally) taking ownership of the computer by buying it used, he was in possession of the computer with the license. It was during that time he downloaded the restore discs.

      When he goes to sell that computer to someone else, it is only then he no longer has possession of the computer with the license.
      Since the restore disc went with the computer, it too is transferred to the new owner of the computer with the license.

      While there are a couple of other license types that are very similar to OEM, such as COA and System Builder, excluding those it is basically all the other license types that assign license ownership to a person, or to a company in the case of volume licenses.

      System Builder licenses are explicitly described to work this way in fact. They act like OEM licenses to the second and after owners of the computer. But for the first owner (the person building the system) they are explicitly licensed in a temporary manor to perform the installation, setup, and modification/distribution of the software. This has always been understood to be a custom built restore disc type thing, where you can slipstream in the drivers and at least in the past your own shovelware.

      Had he disposed of his legally obtained OEM licenses and purchased (again) all new SB licenses, he would have never of been sued in the first place.

      All this ruling does is cement yet another way the first sale doctrine no longer applies to us, although it is far from the first.

    7. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He wasn't distributing the software. Without the license key, the disk is little more than a frisbee. The license key is what makes it software instead of a brick disc.

    8. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A criminal offense can be handled with just a fine. Or community service. It's the lawmakers and the judge who decided that this particular act deserved prison time.

    9. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Copyright infringement is normally a civil offense. If you start a large-scale commercial infringing business, it becomes criminal. I don't see a problem with that.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    10. Re: Silly argument since he was selling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The disks had value. Disks aren't copyrightable. The image on the disks was copyrightable and that image was worthless.

      Your copyright damages don't include any fee I charge for the electricity of burning a disk, only the value of the copyrightable portion of that disk (the data, not the physical disk itself)

      Because the data can be downloaded for free, and according to the supreme court iirc mixed medium infringement damages are calculated based on the value of the infringing part and not the entire object, correct damages would be $0.

      For example, if I sold you a god-tier $5,000 computer with a pirate copy of windows home basic, the damages would be around $150 maybe, not $5,000, because microsoft doesn't get damages for the full computer, just the value of windows home basic.

      So since the restore images can be downloaded for free the damages are $0 since the physical disks did not belong to microsoft.

    11. Re:Silly argument since he was selling them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OEM licenses are never assigned to a person, they are assigned to the computer and travel with that computer.

      Upon (legally) taking ownership of the computer by buying it used, he was in possession of the computer with the license. It was during that time he downloaded the restore discs.

      When he goes to sell that computer to someone else, it is only then he no longer has possession of the computer with the license.
      Since the restore disc went with the computer, it too is transferred to the new owner of the computer with the license.

      While there are a couple of other license types that are very similar to OEM, such as COA and System Builder, excluding those it is basically all the other license types that assign license ownership to a person, or to a company in the case of volume licenses.

      System Builder licenses are explicitly described to work this way in fact. They act like OEM licenses to the second and after owners of the computer. But for the first owner (the person building the system) they are explicitly licensed in a temporary manor to perform the installation, setup, and modification/distribution of the software. This has always been understood to be a custom built restore disc type thing, where you can slipstream in the drivers and at least in the past your own shovelware.

      Had he disposed of his legally obtained OEM licenses and purchased (again) all new SB licenses, he would have never of been sued in the first place.

      All this ruling does is cement yet another way the first sale doctrine no longer applies to us, although it is far from the first.

      First sale doctrine is protected under the Bill of Rights.

      The assignment of OEM licenses to a computer and not a buyer is an illegal practice that violates fundamental rights "retained by the people" (9th Amendment) and "reserved to the people" (10th Amendment) - such as the right to ethical government, and the right to reasonable conduct.

      Further, given the importance of contract to the finances of the US legal profession, making copyright dependent upon contract for the entire duration of the copyright is a violation of the right to ethical practice of law.

      In short, the current implementation of copyright law in the USA exists in violation of the Bill of Rights.

      When the Bill of Rights comes into conflict with any lessor law - including copyright law - that lessor law is automatically rendered null and void.

      Any court with integrity would recognize that the best the copyright holder should be able to receive in this situation is compensation for a share of the gross - thus taking contract law (and the legal ethics problems associated with it) out of the picture.

      The legal professionals for companies creating OEM licenses are in violation of their oaths to uphold the Bill of Rights. The same applies to ANY judges who uphold these illegal practices in violation of their own oaths to uphold the Bill of Rights (and the constitutional requirement of good behaviour).

      In short, this is a classic example of the infringement of fundamental rights "under the colour of law" - a practice that has become all too common in US law. It is not a legitimate exercise of police power, but rather criminal kidnapping by government officials, to favour the commercial interests of a private party (one which happens to make large campaign contributions to the politicians who select judges). The wrong people are going to jail here.

      The fact that fundamental legal ethics issues are being completely ignored in this case clearly demonstrates that corruption in US law has become deeply entrenched. It is clear that all too many US legal professionals - including judges in high office - view ethics as a disease that happens to somebody else. It's not clear that anything short of a reboot will cure the disease.

  24. Microsoft preferred that he instead executed 25000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Downloads? He was saving them terabytes on their akamai bill.

  25. New motto by SigmundFloyd · · Score: 1

    Stay out of jail: Use free software!

    --
    Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
  26. I think I figured this out by MobyDisk · · Score: 2

    Like everyone else here, I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what the crime was and why the court upheld it. The clue is in these two points:

    ...in what seems to have been a huge mistake, the disks had “labels nearly identical to the discs provided by Dell for its computers and had the Windows and Dell logos,”

    If I had just written ‘Eric’s Restore Disc’ on there, it would have been fine.”

    Yeah, he "accidentally" *wink wink, nudge nudge* labeled them just like full-blown licensed copies of Windows. The reality is that It seems like he was trying to pawn these off as actual Windows installs.

    Technically, it was the customer's responsibility to understand the EULA and only use this disk on a computer that already has a valid license. But he had no intention of letting people know that. It didn't come with literature explaining that they needed their original license key to install it. He labeled them to look like Dell Windows CDs, and people would think "Score! I got an actual licensed copy of Windows for only 25 cents!"

    This is kinda gray in my opinion - is the customer who installs it without a license the one in violation of copyright, or is it the one who makes the CD? In practice, there's no way to go after the person installing it. Instead, they chose to go after the distributor.

    The punishment seems too harsh, since he made no profit and this probably ruins his entire life. No normal person will every be able to pay-off that kind of a fine. But I recommend against betting your fortune and freedom on a gray area hole in the law.

    Anyone have a link to the court ruling? It should contain the reasoning.

    1. Re:I think I figured this out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Dell Windows CDs (or DVDs) don't contain a license. I don't have one of his disks so I'm unsure if he is relying on the SLIC table and a manufacturer certificate like the OEMs do, or if he's hoping that the installer will accept the COA sticker. Either case would be acceptable. I'm guessing he used the dell oem label to make them easily identifiable, but what's strange is that would have been trademark infringement (although he could certainly argue that the restore disk he made was a replacement to the disk that should have been originally included, not an alternative).

      This bait and switch method of copyright enforcement needs to be addressed. If MS is really claiming that the restore disks have a value, they can't also limit the installers use through outside means like a product key and/or activation. Why should users accept paying the state to handle microsoft's enforcement if microsoft is just going to selectively decide who gets to use genuine disks anyway?

    2. Re:I think I figured this out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, he "accidentally" *wink wink, nudge nudge* labeled them just like full-blown licensed copies of Windows.

      So, your claim is that full-blown licensed copies of Windows contains "only legal for use with a licensed [manufacturer] pc", like a restore CD like the one he copied?

    3. Re:I think I figured this out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mixing and matching free software (GPL, etc) ideas with proprietary software has this result. Proprietary is proprietary, free is free. It's a PITA to mix these two things together even if you are the author and copyright holder of one or the other or both (i.e. proprietary outfits using version 2 loopholes). It's not easy to feel very comfortable about that type of marriage, and is not even close to being worth the headaches if you ask me.

      But this guy was not a copyleft evangelist gone mad, while forgetting about all the existence of all the other ideologues, religions, and political parties, IMO. He just had a bad idea altogether.

    4. Re:I think I figured this out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "But I recommend against betting your fortune and freedom on a gray area hole in the law."

      This is really good advice. Anyone out there who thinks they've discovered a loophole, you might be too smart for your own good.

    5. Re:I think I figured this out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So it sounds like there was a significant trademark issue in addition to the copyright. (Others have pointed out that the software license doesn't go with the disk and I don't think anybody in this situation was thinking that it did. That's why the sticker is on the PC.) The problem here, also as others point out, is MS's attempts to effectively extort an additional licensing fee out of secondhand sellers by not providing another way to include a restore disk with a secondhand computer. If I sell you a car, I don't have to buy a license to include the user manual in the sale. I think this just demonstrates how broken copyright is. The customer could likely legally pay for the service of somebody downloading and burning a restore disk for them, but can't pay for the burned restore disk. In either case the already have a legal copy of the software. (Except MS wants the license to be non-transferable even though it is, which is why they are exploiting this loophole.)

    6. Re:I think I figured this out by MobyDisk · · Score: 2

      Agreed. They are using copyright to control the means of distribution, which I don't think was the original intent. We've gone too far, so far that even loading the data from disk to memory is considered a "copy" for the purpose of copyright.

    7. Re:I think I figured this out by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      In the US, if you have a legal copy of software, you can make all necessary copies to run it. I agree that copyright is meant to work on a human scale, and making copies that aren't themselves perceived shouldn't be copying.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  27. Classism... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As so often seems to be the case this probably comes down to classism. Gotta keep the poor in their place. If we allow the poor to get properly-functioning computers what would come next? That's a slippery slope, so we better stamp on the poor whenever possible!

  28. About Chinese piracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't think this guy went to the effort to design the packaging to look like a legit Dell product, he probably bought these in bulk from a company in China. If he we're to make his own plain discs with the words "restore CD" on them, it would have cost him waaay more than getting the "bootleg" version in bulk from China. Pretty sure it's the packaging that raised customs' eyebrows.

  29. Let this be a lesson by PPH · · Score: 1

    Never sell or distribute Microsoft products. Send your refurbished PCs out with Ubuntu disks instead.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  30. So $25 refund of thecost of a new pc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    for just returning the unused cd of their productand then whatever they value the software as at retail?

  31. Be careful about equating acquisition cost.. by Junta · · Score: 1

    So there is an uproar that this guy is penalized for providing copies of software that could be gotten elsewhere for free. It's free, so how could there be a problem?

    So let's extend this line of thought. How would any open source license ever be enforceable with that mindset? It's free to get a copy of GPL project, how could the copyright holder have any basis to sue a company for taking that and doing as they please?

    As a matter of law, this seems sound. As a matter of good business, it may not be the best course to bring suit against this guy, and it may be good to have a license that explicitly allows for this sort of thing. Now if someone did have an argument that there were some permissive licensing that should have allowed him to do it, then ok, but let's not pretend copyright requires the holder to charge for the product.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:Be careful about equating acquisition cost.. by Junta · · Score: 2

      I take back what I said about this being sound. The 'damaged' party should be in the position of suing/not suing and the government shouldn't be doing criminal case for something like this. It seems because he imported the discs, it became a customs issue.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    2. Re:Be careful about equating acquisition cost.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're missing a key point. The users had a valid license to use the software. It's like downloading a cache of the public internet and providing it on a HDD on a computer that doesn't have network access and then every website owner suing you. It's nothing more than format shifting.

    3. Re:Be careful about equating acquisition cost.. by EndlessNameless · · Score: 1

      It's free, so how could there be a problem?

      Copyright controls the right to make copies, so the lack of permission is the problem.

      Most FOSS projects give everyone permission to download and distribute their code/binaries, but proprietary shops don't. And there's no rule that forces them to grant permission just because the product is free or no longer available for sale. (Maybe there should be, but that's not how it works right now.)

      E.g., Disney routinely cycles through their movie catalog, so some titles are out of print for years at a time. If you want a copy when they're not selling it, that's too bad. You can wait or buy a used copy, but you cannot make a new copy.

      The 'damaged' party should be in the position of suing/not suing and the government shouldn't be doing criminal case for something like this.

      You are fundamentally wrong here. Bear in mind that I am not a lawyer, so look into it yourself if you feel I'm mistaken.

      Only the government can prosecute crimes. Damaged party suing = civil case. Government prosecution = criminal case. Maybe Microsoft could have just sued the guy in civil court, but he did violate criminal law so it is not just a civil issue.

      Microsoft's civil case will be easier if the government prosecutes first. They no longer need to establish the fact that he violated their copyright---they can point to the guilty verdict. Now they only need to argue what is reasonable compensation for their damages. I've seen a former employer of mine do the same thing, so this isn't particularly clever on their part. It costs time and money to get witnesses and evidence together for a civil suit, and the criminal trial has a higher burden of proof anyway. Plus, the government pays for most of the criminal investigation. From a business perspective, it's almost a no-brainer to let the government go first if they're willing to prosecute.

      Maybe you believe his actions shouldn't be considered a crime. If that's the case, then you'll need to encourage the amendment or repeal of the relevant criminal law. Clearly, the courts believe he committed a crime, as his 15-month sentence was just upheld.

      --

      ---
      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
    4. Re: Be careful about equating acquisition cost.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. YOU are the one missing the point. MS did not sue the user and never ever complained about them. The case was against a guy who illegally cloned a bunch of disks, labeled them like the original source and was SELLING the illegal copies.

    5. Re:Be careful about equating acquisition cost.. by Junta · · Score: 1

      My point was that the 'how could there be a problem?' is the sentiment thrown around here, and that's a bad sentiment if you simultaneously care about the ability to enforce open source licenses.

      On the being wrong, I suppose I meant it doesn't seem *right* that this is the way the law can work here. I've no doubt it is legal, but it seems wrong to me that this sort of behavior is a criminal rather than a civil matter. Of course that's a pretty subjective call...

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    6. Re:Be careful about equating acquisition cost.. by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Large-scale commercial copyright infringement is a criminal offense, which I think is reasonable. Last I looked, infringing by uploading to the Net for public access is also criminal, which I find far less reasonable.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  32. In case you forgot by TimMD909 · · Score: 1

    Let this be a reminder that Microsoft is still evil, after all these years. They only look less evil compared to what Google, Apple, and Facebook have been doing.

    1. Re:In case you forgot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What, Microsoft is quite justly defending their copyright?

      What, Microsoft saying fake install disks are not allowed?

      How the ever living fuck is that evil?

  33. Guilty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    He plead GUILTY.

    Having plead GUILTY he had admitted he was guilty and therefore admitted violation of the law, and all that transpired was to determine the extent (for the purposes of sentencing) of his self-admitted GUILTYness. After having pleaded GUILTY to HAVING COMMITTED A CRIME it was not open to him to argue that NO CRIME occurred.

    He should have pleaded NOT GUILTY and gone to trial. on the merits.

  34. TL;DR: Use Linux by PGaries · · Score: 1

    If I understand correctly, this guy was selling Microsoft software that he wasn't authorized to distribute and because that made it less likely someone would buy a new Windows license (or machine with Windows installed), Microsoft argued that their monetary loss for each disk amounted to the value of a new Microsoft license: $299.

    The judge reduced that value to $25 per disc, though I'm not sure where that number came from. A quickly Google search indicates that one can buy an Windows 10 OEM license (what you'd get with a new computer) for the similar price of $27.99.

    Eric Lundgren, the guy charged, argued that the nature of the software illegally distributed should give him immunity from charges of copyright infringement.

    All I can say is:

    1. Don't distribute software you don't own without permission.
    2. Don't add logos without permission to items you're distributing.
    3. If you're a user, use Linux.
    4. If you're a refurbisher, use Linux.

    Posted from Linux Mint 18.

    PS If you have a Windows 10 license key, you can install Linux over Windows 10, download a Window 10 disk image from Microsoft's website for free, and use the key to run Windows 10 via Virtual Box on Linux.

  35. He could have completely avoided this... by InfiniteBlaze · · Score: 2

    if he had just created a restore partition on each of the hard drives. The issue is in providing separate physical media. Had the systems been sold "intact", meaning wiped of all personal information but with HDD partitions in place, there would have been no copyright infringement. He had a great plan but poor execution; he left himself open, and now he will have to pay the price...sad but true.

  36. Here's the case doc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/files/201712466.pdf

  37. MS buys court by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Big corp legal team makes example of non compliant little guy.....

    Opps...
    Big corp legal team gets federal court to make example of non compliant little guy just out of spite.

    Justice is for the rich.

  38. yuk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    makes me ill thinking about the greed of such companies. and the laws they lobby in to existence..

  39. OEM License non-transferable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The OEM license of Windows is non-tranferable. PC refurbishers pay Microsoft a stipend for each computer they refurbish for the privilege to add a refurbished License sticker. This person was was working around that by making copies of the origial system restore disks, and the narrative that they only worked with a valid license was pure fiction.

    The story is often bent to make him look more sympathetic, but he was as guilty of copyright infringement as possible.

    As another posted said, if you don't want to pay the MS tax, refurbish with software Libre, and the whole world benefits.

    1. Re:OEM License non-transferable by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      That shit doesn't hold up in court. It's the legal bluff MS uses to force used PC shops to pay up.

      OEM licenses are tied to the hardware. Are transferred when hardware is sold.
      Retail licenses are tied to purchaser. Can be transferred from old PC to new PC.

      Anything else is FUD spread by MS to scare PC refurbishers into buying licenses they legally don't need to.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  40. Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This sentence is too harsh. Microsoft should have intervened and gotten the charges dropped and settled the case. Its mad to put someone in jail for something like this.

    1. Re:Microsoft by EndlessNameless · · Score: 1

      Why shouldn't Microsoft pursue him to the limits of the law? Sending him to prison sends a message: you pay Microsoft their licensing fees and adhere to the licensing terms, or you go to jail.

      Microsoft has a program where refurbishers pay for legit OS licenses/media. Lundgren wasn't breaking new ground, and he wasn't saving the planet. He was just selling an illegal solution for less.

      If he didn't ask for money, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt for being an idealist. But he chose to profit from it. I have very little sympathy.

      --

      ---
      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
  41. No, Justice matters. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Laws are to facilitate justice, not there for their own sake. Once a state loses sight of that fact, it turns to authoritarianism, in this case quite clearly corptocracy.

    Distributing freely available (but not free licensed) software should be a misdemeanor at best, not a felony, and that market value is riaa math.

    Consider the fallout where you're turning a good chunk of the young teenage and adult population into felons as they are distributing while downloading 'more valuable' torrents.

    Microsoft bald money motive here, wanting people to get rid of their computers faster so they buy another is quite on display here. Someone ought to shame Bill Gates for that while his net worth increases on this poor man's back.

    Ze law is ze law is ze law is not a road we want to go down on.

    1. Re: No, Justice matters. by kenh · · Score: 1

      Distributing freely available (but not free licensed) software should be a misdemeanor at best, not a felony, and that market value is riaa math.

      When he ordered 28,000 illegal copies from a disc duplicator that that didn't require proof he had the right to order 28,000 discs with MS licensed software on it with the windows name on it he lost the ability to have his crime classified as a misdemeanor.

      Catch a guy in a store front handing self-burned discs on demand to customers that request it, sure clearly a misdemeanor.

      It would take a couple station wagons to transport 28,000 discs - that's a big number.

      --
      Ken
  42. Our laws are just screwed up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is just sad.

  43. Who watches the watchers? by JustNiz · · Score: 2

    What do you do when the judge is obviously corrupt? Clearly Microsoft got to him first.

    1. Re:Who watches the watchers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft is a company founded by liberal dogoodnicks run by liberal doogoodnicks and staffed by liberal doogoodnicks. When the iron law of money disagrees with the liberal law of recycling. the iron law of money will win. Sure recycle all you want, just don't allown recycling to keep people from buying computers and software from liberal doogoodnicks in Silicon Valley

      If he wanted to be praised he should have started a recycling center that smashed computers into little piece, shipped them In a cargo container to Mumbai, and them left it in the ground. That is the kind of recycling liberals love. This kind of recycling where stuff doesn't get thrown out is racist.

    2. Re:Who watches the watchers? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      If the judge is corrupt, you appeal. In this case, the judge was enforcing the law as written. Judges don't go around with weapons delivering instant criminal justice, outside the movies and comic books. They sit in courtrooms and interpret the law as handed down to them. It appears that you don't like the law. In that case, you can attempt to get it changed. Your efforts won't make much difference by themselves, but if enough people complain something might get done.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  44. That's a better argument (but COPY right) by raymorris · · Score: 1

    What you said may be a better argument than "what I was selling can't be sold, it has no value". Obviously it has some value, he has thousands of copies made to sell.

    Your argument is essentially "because Microsoft sold a license to use an existing copy, they can no longer control companies making and selling copies", right?

    Of course it's called COPY right. From the beginning Microsoft has the sole right to make and sell copies. More questionable, perhaps, is to what extent Microsoft has the right to issue licenses. The license may have no value, because in general you can do what you want with stuff you buy. While Microsoft has the sole right to make and Al copies, it's less clear that they have any right to control what happens with those copies after the sale, to issue licenses of any kind.

  45. Summary of the case by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 4, Informative

    While there are some interesting posts about various legal topics here, perhaps a summary of what actually happened would be helpful.

    Lundgren restore discs were labeled in a way to make them look almost identical to similar restore discs sent out by Dell. Apparently they had Microsoft's Windows logo on them.

    He was charging 25 cents each for the discs. This means that in effect he was making money from selling the discs.

    Customs intercepted the shipment of his discs, possibly through a random inspection. Microsoft got upset because they deliberately want it to be very difficult to get old, but still legal version of Windows working this way because they want people to just give up a buy a new copy, which makes money for Microsoft.

    He pleaded guilty to 2 of 21 charges he faced, which is the main reason he's going to jail. He pleaded guilty. And he may have had some questionable legal representation because some of the arguments he makes against the final verdict are really items that his attorney should have brought up in court, but apparently did not.

    1. Re:Summary of the case by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Would his sentence not be reduce under good behavior? It's my limited understanding that it can be reduce while in jail with the remainder on probation.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    2. Re:Summary of the case by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      Microsoft got upset because they deliberately want it to be very difficult to get old, but still legal version of Windows working this way because they want people to just give up a buy a new copy, which makes money for Microsoft.

      I think you got the reason right there. Charging $.25 for a printed CD is not a profit, he's providing these at a loss. "Pleasing guilty" is not an admission of ACTUAL GUILT, in the real world it means; "I don't have the money to pay for defending myself and they threaten much harsher penalties if I fight it." The fact that fighting for your innocence can get you more jail time than being guilty shows how broke our legal system is.

      Your synopsis is welcome -- but it just shows me what I expect; broken system.

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
  46. e-waste 'innovator'? by DirkDaring · · Score: 1

    He created e-waste so he's an innovator?

    1. Re:e-waste 'innovator'? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He created e-waste so he's an innovator?

      Yes, he was creating e-waste by allowing people to re-use old systems.

      Now, tell me Dirk, how long have you been voting Republican?

  47. The usa government will not be happy until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...everyone is a criminal. The totalitarian state will not stop until everyone has a criminal record.

    The whole machine is designed to make sure those not in power cannot ever be in power, and only those super wealthy can stay out of jail.

    Every day the noose around USA citizen necks gets a little tighter.

    Get out while you still can....

  48. Yeah, but read the fine print by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The guy was manufacturing in China and shipping to the US disks that carried the Microsoft and Dell logos, so they were made to look genuine. The fact that they required valid licenses to work does not change the fact that those disks were designed to look like genuine installation/restore disks, therefore they were by definition counterfeit products. They were better than knockoff products because they were digital and thus identical to the legit ones. Like he said, if those disks had been labelled "Jim's restore disk" maybe this wouldn't be such a big deal. The guy know exactly what he was doing so he should stop moaning and ./ should stop defending him.

  49. originally claimed the disks were worth $299 by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    Microsoft originally claimed the disks were worth $299

  50. Another evil hacker down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great news!

  51. Money by kenh · · Score: 1

    Fellow made 28,000 installation disks - that's a lot of disks.

    The 'software expert' may testify that the discs, in his opinion, are 'essentially worthless', that doesn't make them worthless, or having no value.

    The company that made the 28,000 discs didn't consider them 'essentially worthless', in fact, the disc maker charged the 'E-Waste Innovator' an amount of money to produce the discs.

    And why did the 'E-Waste Innovator' create these discs, to increase the value of the computers he sells.

    --
    Ken
  52. My best guess by kenh · · Score: 1

    This fellow bought 28,000 discs, if made in the US and packaged in anything other than bulk spindles, likely cost 66-75Â/disc, less if done overseas. He spent significant money on these discs, it strains the limits of credulity to believe he did so to hand them out onsie-twosie to folks picking up otherwise waste computers.

    If the software was actually freely downloadable, he could have simply attached a sticker to the computer with a Microsoft URL from which to download it from.

    --
    Ken
    1. Re:My best guess by Pfhorrest · · Score: 1

      Download it with what, the refurbished computer they just bought that has no usable OS installed on it yet?

      --
      -Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
      "I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
  53. Prove it by kenh · · Score: 1

    Someone please provide the "Free for download" link to get this software.

    Presumably I can download the version of Windows that 'Auto-magically' detects that the computer has a valid license/via and will'just work' with my Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. desktop - right?

    --
    Ken
    1. Re:Prove it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it does work (not sure if all pcs). I picked up some used office pcs (haswell i7 editions). they embed the license into the UEFI so when you run the installer you dont have to type in the code it just installs. you can literally google windows download it should come up like this one

      https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8ISO

    2. Re:Prove it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Computers with OEM Windows licenses usually (always?) come with a sticker with a license key to type into the installer if you have to reinstall Windows. These CDs probably asked the user to type in what the sticker said.

    3. Re:Prove it by kenh · · Score: 1

      So were the 28,000 discs this fellow had pressed Windows 8.1 discs?

      BTW, these discs were seized in 2012, right around the time Windows 8 was released to the public, Aug. 1st, 2012, so he was likely sharing Windows 7 or Windows XP recovery discs, not the (now) freely available Windows 8.1 image you linked to.

      Thank you for the link, but the real question is what was Microsoft's policy for replacement install discs in 2012, not today.

      --
      Ken
    4. Re:Prove it by kenh · · Score: 1

      P.S. The link is dead

      --
      Ken
    5. Re:Prove it by 4pins · · Score: 1

      Someone please provide the "Free for download" link to get this software.

      Sure!

      Windows 7: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

      Windows 10: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

      Presumably I can download the version of Windows that 'Auto-magically' detects that the computer has a valid license/via and will'just work' with my Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. desktop - right?

      Nope. For Windows 7 you just enter a valid activation key. For Windows 10 you just need to tell it what version you are after (although it currently only provides one valid option) and what language you would like it in. Then you have a choice between using the 32-bit or 64-bit link. It is a great way to get an ISO and install windows in a VM on Linux or Mac. Not that I find that necessary anymore.

      --
      I will not mourn that which I never had to lose. - Unknown
  54. What he actually did (Translated to M$): by dschnur · · Score: 1

    Normally, providing a backup of software with a computer is a good thing for customers and a show of good customer service.
    In this case, the twisted way Microsoft licenses software made him a "criminal."

    Here's how:

    M$ licenses software to an OEM with the ability for that company to sub-license the software to end users. To the end user, OEM licenses aren't "from" M$, but from the company that made the computer.

    The OEM license requires two parts: The first is the sticker, or firmware key that's on all PC's. The second is the "original media" as provided to the end user. That can be what is on the hard drive from the manufacturer or it can also be backup media. Both are considered part of the license and without both parts, the computer does not have a license.

    Installing a generic OEM copy of Windows isn't possible without M$'s explicit permission -- even if the computer has a valid sticker. That's because the generic copy isn't licensed to the company that's distributing it.

    For a refurbisher to install Windows 10 on a PC, they need to provide original media, or purchase new licenses from M$ (For about 25.00/each) and install that (with a new sticker) on the PC.

    By making his own disks, Eric was essentially pirating software by distributing the wrong version with computers that had valid keys for one that was sub-licensed by other vendors.

      Talk about a tangled web. Bit for bit, it is the same code. Legally, it might as well be Xenix.

      -D

    1. Re:What he actually did (Translated to M$): by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      Eric was downloading and distributing copyrighted material without a license.
      The license granted when you download Windows 10 media from Microsoft explicitly forbids commercial use and is granted only for end users.

  55. His intent was questionable. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He works with E-Waste, so he was going to get these old computers and flood eBay with them at a low price and "official" restore discs included. He is not a dumb guy, he just thought Microsoft wouldn't care about his little game. Microsoft didn't have to do this, but he didn't have to try to be sneaky about things either. He should have just had generic plain white labels on the disc that said "restore disc" if he wanted to avoid any issues with copyright. Everyone has the right to make money, but there are ways to do it without tying to be a trickster. Microsoft didn't get him, karma did.

    1. Re:His intent was questionable. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is your beef? That he offered inexpensive computers on ebay? Yep, those poor Negroes and Hispanics who bought them should have bought a brand new MacBook Pro like yourself.

  56. You need Jury Nullification reinstated. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go read that wikipedia article GP posted: Most of the bottom half covers the United States (there is also a separate page of just US jury nullification) and basically says that between the 1895 case and today judges up to the Federal level (but not recently the Supreme Court) have ruled that jury nullification can be voided by the judge requiring jury members to confirm an oath stating they will not nullify a law. This is a grievous travesty, but not really something that can be worked around with moving directly to the ammo box. Because the soap box is already out thanks to big money psyops, and without jury nullification the jury box is entirely a fight between the judge, prosecutor, and defendant with the jury only getting a binary choice with a restrictive set of rules surrounding it.

  57. It's only broken if you're not rich by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    otherwise it's working just fine.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  58. I think the point the GP is making by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    is we don't want just _anybody_ using it. I mean, imagine of those unwashed masses were to use it. Perish the thought.

    This is why lefties like me think we need well rounded educations. They cover stuff like this in detail.

    --
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  59. I bought a computer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I recently bought a brand spankin' new mini-PC off of Amazon with Windows 10 Pro on it for much less than the cost of a standalone license of Windows 10 Pro. The system works just fine. Methinks the manufacturer is doing something in violation of the Microsoft EULA. When I booted it up for the first time it never asked to activate and the legal agreement screen consisted of two lines about adhering to a volume licensing agreement and I know those volume licenses are generally only used for bulk deployments at a single business. So I'm pretty sure the manufacturer should be paying attention to the outcome of this case. As far as I'm concerned, I bought the hardware for $150 and the OS was a freebie bonus. If Microsoft decides the installed OS isn't kosher and I need to pony up for a valid license to continue running Windows on that hardware, I'm not going to be heartbroken.

    However, if Microsoft tries to pull a stunt like that though on my main PC which has a fully and properly assigned and activated Windows license, I'll be really pissed off and give them an earful that they won't ever forget.

  60. Hillary walks free, and yet this man goes to jail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where is the justice in that?

  61. Something I've been wondering about the 2nd by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    is why the phrase "A Well Regulated Militia..." exists. I'm honestly asking. I can't find any discussions online about it with anywhere near a comprehensive historical treatment of the phrase. Why didn't the founders just write "The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed". What I do know is that _everything_ after the preamble has legal weight and is supposed to. Legal documents of the time put the fluff in a preamble and the real stuff after. What I don't know is how that phrase is supposed to be interpreted legally..

    --
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    1. Re:Something I've been wondering about the 2nd by Big+Boss · · Score: 2

      The full text....

      "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

      The first phrase is a justification for the second. It should also be noted that the US government has no authority to maintain a standing army, at least, not at the time it was written. There is some debate about that in the present time. So the militia was the army. "regulated" in this context was often used in the period to mean "equipped". A soldier without a weapon is pretty useless, so they wanted to ensure that their pool of soldiers had weapons available.

      There is some debate about that interpretation in the present day as well, but looking at the language of the time, that makes the most sense to me. There is also the idea that from a legal perspective, things added later supersede those previous. Thus amendments supersede the original terms. Otherwise, only white male landowners would be allowed to vote, for example. As the latest text that has anything to do with weapons in the document is "shall not be infringed", that is pretty clear. This also creates some issues with things like WMDs, which I think the vast majority would agree should not be held privately, if at all.

    2. Re:Something I've been wondering about the 2nd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, thanks for this lucid explanation. Of course, what you don't deal with is the action-movie fever dreams of so many American men.
      Every single guy who thinks they need guns to fight tyranny, is going to be a henchman for a tyrant, and using those guns to harass and terrorize the minority du jour. And as they do it, will fantasize that the poor minority is the tyrant. Just like Poles did vis-a-vis Jews.

    3. Re:Something I've been wondering about the 2nd by Rakarra · · Score: 0

      For the same reason this sentence exists in the Constitution wrt copyright: [The Congress shall have power] “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

      The first phrase is a justification. It's rare though, there aren't a lot of places in the Constitution where justifications are given.

  62. The person who stole his car only deprived one guy by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    of a possession, and that guy wasn't very rich (if he was he wouldn't care about something as small as a stolen car).

    The guy hear was depriving a mega corporation of revenue. Perhaps millions (since they could have sold new computers). There is no greater crime.

    --
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  63. No national attention whatsoever by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    mega corps own all the media. I've complained about a right wing, pro corporate bias in media when it comes to economics, but people laugh at me when I do. This is what I'm talking about. Well, this and stuff like this. That last one went viral. Doesn't look like this will. There isn't a funny video for it on youtube.

    --
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  64. America is very, very pro property by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    and we perceive this as an "Intellectual Property" case. It wouldn't be hard to convince a jury of Americans to convict. Especially if they guy's lawyer wasn't very good. He should have plead out like most people do. Unless you're very, very rich you don't go before a jury in this country.

    --
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    1. Re:America is very, very pro property by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      I'm totally fine with being "pro-property," but I sure don't like the trend of redefining "copyright" to be property akin to a physical object.

  65. He should flee the CUNTtry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He should flee the CUNTtry.

    The USA hates men. He should become it's enemy.

  66. PR win! by TJHook3r · · Score: 1

    Thank goodness this dangerous maniac is behind bars!

  67. re: jury nullification and this case by King_TJ · · Score: 2

    You make some valid points about jury nullification but I can't agree with the claim that Lundgren violated the spirit or intent of the law ... only the letter of the law.

    At the end of the day, Microsoft always tries to "have its cake and eat it too" when it comes to Windows licensing. I've worked in I.T. for almost 30 years now, and it's been an underlying theme with Microsoft's products as far as back as I can remember working for a company using them. The "volume licensing" program used to be so complicated, practically nobody could figure out if they were really in compliance or not.

    EG. It was standard practice to use imaging software like Ghost to blast workstation images onto your corporate PCs before deployment. Yet that image might have been licensed using a single Windows key code that didn't match the OEM keys that came printed on stickers affixed to the individual machines. Microsoft used to claim that put companies in legal violation and they were required to buy volume licenses for each PC they wanted to image that way. Of course, the logical assumption from the company's POV was that the computer was sold with a Windows license bundled with it, and they were still only running that same "flavor" of Windows after imaging. Since the license key stickers were still on each PC, it proved they legally owned a copy of Windows that shipped with that PC. There was no avenue to do anything ELSE with the copy of Windows they paid for with the PC, either. So this amounted to Microsoft trying to double-dip on sales, via a technicality.

    I see this guy's case as pretty similar. Basically, Microsoft tried to prevent him from mass producing copies of their operating system that aren't even possible to install on a computer without an accompanying license key, which he WASN'T including with any of them. And in fact (according to an article about this on Gizmodo's web site), he was eventually only charged with 2 counts out of 21 original ones; the counts related to him using the Microsoft name and logo on his disc labels without permission. That's not even what they originally went after him for. More like, they stacked up as many counts as they could possibly find on him, and only those 2 "side issue" ones stood the legal test.

    I remember as far back as the early 1990's, MANY mom and pop computer shops and online service places would run ads in the Yellow Pages and on mailings that had the Windows flag logo in the corner someplace, simply to indicate they serviced and sold those types of products. You might often find the Linux penguin logo right next to one to show they knew Linux too. Microsoft practically never prosecuted for THAT violation (because you know the majority of them didn't contact Microsoft for permission to use it first).

    (Ultimately, I'm sure Microsoft couldn't see any value in going after the illegal re-printing of their logo like that, when it was clear that the people doing it were only helping them sell more products -- not less.)

  68. It's in plain english by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    Personal and Non-Commercial Use Limitation
    Unless otherwise specified, the Services are for your personal and non-commercial use. You may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from the Services.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

    That's the terms of use for everything downloaded from the Microsoft website. Sounds like pretty cut and dry copyright infringement.

  69. re: no right to copy and distribute by King_TJ · · Score: 1

    Seems pretty questionable to me. "Because Copyright" doesn't provide blanket ability for a company to control what it produces?

    At best, this is a case of nitpicking over the "letter of the law" vs. intent and spirit of the law.

    Because let's face it .... This level of control over distribution is USUALLY reserved for the scenarios that existed at the time the copyright laws were written, where the work itself wasn't protected from use in some manner like requiring a product key. (If I purchase a copy of Star Wars on VHS tape, I can't go making duplicates and reselling them or I'm violating copyright. I'm literally competing with the movie studio directly for sales of the movie. and my copy is just as easy to pop in a player and view as the original store bought one is.)

    Windows is designed so it requires product activation over the Internet. Microsoft's server has to verify the unique key you typed in as part of the setup process, to determine you're ok to actually continue using it. IMO, that makes everything hinge on the product key -- not the installation media.

    The fact that Microsoft has web sites anyone can visit where Windows 10's installation media can be downloaded as an ISO image, AND even a free tool to help you build a bootable USB stick version of it helps illustrate this. The install media isn't relevant to determining who properly licensed the software and who didn't.

  70. Pleaded Guilty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    THere wa sno "verdict". The guy pleaded guilty. All that remained was to determine the appropriate sentence for the crime to which the defendant had admitted.

  71. Annnd by DMJC · · Score: 1

    The valuable lesson here for everyone is quite simply: Fuck proprietary software. Clearly Microsoft won't support even people supporting their platform so why should anyone go to any effort to promote their garbage? If he'd been wiping/installing Linux on the machines and preloading them with blender/libreoffice/gimp/krita/google chrome. There would have been no issue and he could still be in business and stayed out of jail. Instead now he's doing 15 months because he thought he had the freedom to help people. A great case studying in how doing the morally right thing, but "impacting" on a company gets you screwed.

  72. Unintentional irony is the best irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's hilarious that your text is full of Microsoft artifacts!

  73. so.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Software is free, yet they give it an arbitrary value? Wat?

  74. Fact update: He was selling the discs, without sys by raymorris · · Score: 1

    A small but significant fact update: he was selling the discs to refurbishers. He got the idea while refurbishing systems he sold, and thought that other refurbishers might buy discs from him.

    Seems like a small difference, but it makes all of this incorrect:
    --
    Upon (legally) taking ownership of the computer by buying it used, he was in possession of the computer (he didn't, and wasn't) with the license. It was during that time he downloaded the restore discs.

    When he goes to sell that computer to someone else (he sold the Windows discs, in bulk, not computers), it is only then he no longer has possession of the computer with the license.
    Since the restore disc went with the computer
    --

  75. Next time use Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't think what he did was wrong and being punished for his actions is ludicrous. However, this case gives me more incentive to promote using Linux on older hardware and give the finger to Microsoft. Just my two cents.

  76. A few (inconvienient) facts by kenh · · Score: 1

    The guy bought 48,000 discs at less than 5 cents/each.

    He bought the discs in 2012, around the time of Windows 8 general release.

    He intended to sell them to other computer recyclers for about 25 cents/each

    He does not personally recycle PCs, so he was not going to include them with PCs with COAs.

    He included the logo/likeness of the Dell recovery CDs on each one, so that they looked to the casual observer the same as the official restore CDs.

    In case you have a hard time visualizing it, this Washington Post story has a picture of this guy laying on top of 48,000 install discs.

    His conviction was for selling 28,000 discs for 15 cents each to a broker in Florida as part of a gov't sting.

    Source: E-waste recycler Eric Lundgren loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve 15-month prison term

    --
    Ken
    1. Re:A few (inconvienient) facts by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
      Thank heavens that they are spending their time on civilization critical crimes like this.

      "What you in for Pal?"

      "I murderd my children and cooked them? You?"

      "Made Windows restore disks."

      "Jeezuz Christ - your a fucking animal!"

      Then Lundgrun was shanked in the shower the next day. I mean even crooks have some honor.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re: A few (inconvienient) facts by kenh · · Score: 1

      This was an easy crime that fell into the Gov't lap - the gov't spotted the shipment of 48,000 counterfeit discs, staged a buy for 28,000 of them @ $0.15/ea, and arrested the seller, the 'E-Waste Innovator'.

      To paraphrase something President Obama's once said, "Police can multi-task" - investigating counterfeiting doesn't prevent them from going after killers, robbers, etc.

      --
      Ken
  77. Corrupt Judges by LinuxLuver · · Score: 1

    America is now a sad parody of it used to claim to be.

    --
    Only boring people are ever bored.
  78. Rich Techies Fuck Little Guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems to be a recurring theme for the tech industry of late but, heh, at least you arrogant fuckers can afford to swill your raw water, right?

    Madam Defarge is knitting away, you greedy sociopaths.

  79. Meanwhile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Welfare cheats get cash in hand without punishment!!!!

  80. Ahhhhhh by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Microsoft truly is a festering carbuncle on the asshole of the Universe. As for it's fans? Good for ya.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.