Is it ok to sell a downloadable software to someone if you dont use it anymore?

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D_Vincent

D_Vincent

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Is it ok to sell a downloadable software to someone if you dont use it anymore?

Im looking at buying reaper however I bought another recording software before reaper and own the registration key however if I buy reaper I wont need the other recording software anymore...I was wondering if people think its ok to sell the registration key to someone else if I myself wont use the software anymore.

Just wanted to know what people thought of that.
 
i would think it's okay to sell the software and the registration key as long as you don't have the software installed anymore. more directly though, it would depend on the license agreement of the software. if you need to register it online for it to work, or something to that effect, then you may need to make sure it will still work if installed on a different PC with a different IP, mac address, etc.

i still say it'll most likely work. it's just like selling it at a yard sale.
 
Most software these days use a challenge/response protection system that incorporate polling the computer for it's unique identifiers. In other words, it knows you've moved it to a new computer, and won't work until the software company agrees to let it run on the new computer. So make sure that's going to be OK. Also, there's the issue of software updates, which may be free or affordable to the registered owner, but not to anyone else. Best thing to do is to transfer the registration if possible. If not possible, just be upfront with the buyer, and make sure he'll at least be able to run the version he's buying.
Ethically, if the software company doesn't support owner transfer, and it's just a static key, I don't have a big problem with the transfer. It's kind of a grey area, but it beats all out piracy. The 2nd hand buyer is far more likely to update/upgrade than a pirate will be.
 
I know that Cakewalk prohibits selling software you've bought from them, which is lame and people do it anyway, but it totally depends on the software. You have to wade through the license agreement to find out for sure.
 
Yeah its a grey area...may have to find out a bit more about the license agreement.

Thanks for the replies
 
you don't OWN the software .... "YOU" are LICENSING it
chances are it's not transferable ... check with REAPER ... varies from vendor to vendor
 
johnnymegabyte said:
you don't OWN the software .... "YOU" are LICENSING it
chances are it's not transferable ... check with REAPER ... varies from vendor to vendor
Click to expand...

Most software is transferable, and you shouldn't buy software from companies that don't allow transfer.

Technically, prohibiting transfer is a violation of the right of first sale, which means it should be illegal for a company to put any limits on your right to transfer your license to another party.

That said, a couple of U.S. circuits still support the flawed notion that the company has the right to restrict transfers, so the answer to your question depends largely on where in the U.S. you live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
 
sonnylarsen said:
I know that Cakewalk prohibits selling software you've bought from them, which is lame and people do it anyway, but it totally depends on the software. You have to wade through the license agreement to find out for sure.
Click to expand...

If you're talking about Cakewalk s/w you could always sell the manual and give the s/w away for free
 
Bulls Hit said:
If you're talking about Cakewalk s/w you could always sell the manual and give the s/w away for free
Click to expand...

I'd have to look at my Sonar license agreement, but typically the restriction is on transfer -- not sale.
 
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