ShrinkWrapLicensing

=End user agreements=

Issue date: Due date:

Building Software to Sell
• The English Sale of Goods Act 1979 states: — S14(2) “Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business, there is an implied condition that the goods supplied under the contract are of merchantable quality” and — S14(6) “Goods of any kind are of merchantable quality within the meaning of subsection (2) above if they are as fit for the purpose or purposes for which goods of that kind are commonly bought as it is reasonable to expect having regard to any description applied to them” • Contrast this with what typical software documentation promises

The Shrink Wrap License
• This attempts to change normal consumer rights regarding: — Non-profitable copying — Reverse engineering — Testing to make purchasing decisions — Where and when you can use the software — Re-selling software or giving it as a gift — Jurisdiction in which disputes will be resolved — Fitness for purpose • Such licenses seem to be binding — Scottish court decision in Beta Computers (Europe) Ltd v Adobe Systems (Europe) Ltd

Task
You are a campaigning against the large software companies shrink wrap license agreements, essentially when you unwrap some software from the shrink wrapping you have agreed to their end user license agreements.

You need to create a poster explaining what this is to laypeople and to highlight the social/ethical issues involved with this.