A legal question

OK, if any of you read flashdadee (and I'm sure there's about 3 of you), you'll know that last night I bought the new PC Medal of Honor game. For those of you that don't read fd, I bought the new PC Medal of Honor game :)

Anyways, I was about to install it, when they asked for the CD-Key - I turned the case over to reveal - the CD-Key printed at a weird angle so that I couldn't read the first 10-15 numbers in it (they were printed off the page). ........ed, I dove into google and searched for a CD-Key (which brings me to another point - has there ever been a site that provides serial numbers w/o porn?). No such luck, although I did find many cracks for it, which would have helped more had I been able to install the game in the first place.

Today, I exchanged it at Best Buy without problems. We checked in the store, and this has a complete CD-Key on the back.

This (eventually) leads to my question. If I had found a Key on the web and used that, would it have been illegal? After all - I paid for the product... However, you only really buy the license, so, since I hadn't agreed to the EULA yet, would that have been theft?

Other question - Best Buy's return policy is to accept exchanges on defective, opened games, and refunds on unopened ones. So, could I have gotten a refund? Since, technically, you pay for the license, was the game never, in fact, "opened", because I never agreed to the EULA?

When you go into a store with someone to buy something and that person robs the store after you buy your merchandise... you are an accessory to robbery.

Reality tho... the laws for computer software are weak at best, so the likely-hood of you getting into any kind of trouble is virtually nil. Especially after you show the judge (or the vendor for that matter) your receipt of sale. Laws are not always finite.

The people at Best Buy are idiots. An open game to them means that you opened the box, or cd, etc. That is an interesting policy though on the returns for merchandise. What would stop a person from getting a game and burning it, returning it for another game, burning that, and returning it for another game... etc etc...

(side note... saw you entered the contest... good luck, hope you win)

it is still illegal, not only because the key available has been used on many other copies and so is a breach of the single license user agreement but the crack also violates the eula because it interferes with the application code

and i have never found a crack site that doesnt come hand in hand with porn, free condoms of promises of painless penis enlargement with free viagra....

> (side note... saw you entered the contest... good luck, hope you win)

Thanks - don't suppose you could help me out on that? :)

> What would stop a person from getting a game and burning it, returning it for another game, burning that, and returning it for another game... etc etc...

I thought about that, but AFAIK, you can't exchange it for another game - if you could, they might as well let you return it for cash.

> the likely-hood of you getting into any kind of trouble is virtually nil.

I know that, but.... I dunno - I'm basically asking what would constitute a open box on software (not by BB's ass-backwards standards). Is it implied that you agree to the EULA by physically opening the box, or is it not set in stone until you scroll past everything and press the "I Agree" button?

> the crack also violates the eula because it interferes with the application code

But I wouldn't be cracking it - only getting a new serial number.

Analgously, if I bought a car and it came with no keys, would it be illegal if the owner of an identical car gave me his keys, which just happened to fit in my lock?

i see your point, if it is only a serial you could get away with that but its still unathorised use and violates the siingle user. Inthe UK we have the CMA 1998 which is pretty strong and you could probably get prosecuted for doing that!

So, the general consensus is that because EA messed up, if I try to work around their problem to get the game I paid for to work, I could get arrested...

Well they expect you to call the company and resolve the issue.


>>>Thanks - don't suppose you could help me out on that?

Sure... you want some money too? :)

I e-mailed EA -they haven't gotten back to me. I suspect, if they do, it'll be something like "Please return it to the store you bought it from." It's not like they're going to give me a serial through e-mail just because I told them it was written wrong.

> Sure... you want some money too?

If you're offering :) (how many entrants do you normally get?)

It is up over 600 right now... but it gets busier when it gets near the end.... (March 15th)

Oh... damn.... So, it's just a random drawing?

Yes... I wrote a program that parses the names, email, etc out of a email text file list and comma deliminates them into a new file that can be added to a database w/ email address etc. It also picks the winner after I make manual computations on "extra" entries.

It is random, but you can greatly improve your chances by getting other people to sign up and put your name as a refferral. This gives you two free entries per person that signs up because of you. Purchases give five free entries, and we sold two since this contest started. One person has 12 entries right now. More times your name is there... the better chances you have.

It works really well as a promotion.

Wow, sounds pretty cool.

HEY EVERYBODY! GO TO LEAFPAINTINGS.COM AND ENTER THE CONTEST! PUT [email protected] DOWN AS A REFERRAL! THANKS!

:)

cheater! :) You are going to have a few million entries I imagine. LOL

>>>Wow, sounds pretty cool.

HEY EVERYBODY! GO TO LEAFPAINTINGS.COM AND ENTER THE CONTEST! PUT [email protected] DOWN AS A REFERRAL! THANKS! <<<

well it seems many people are supporting you on this... but you still don't have the most entries :D