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Comment by bencoder | Hacker News Reader

Except if your disk is damaged and you want to download a working version or get a replacement disk, then it's not just a licence, you gotta buy it again. They want it both ways

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That always drove me nuts. It's got to be one or the other. Seems like there might be an interesting court case to be made by say the Internet Archive:

1. Buy a CD and then damage it

2. Then ask for a new one for free, with proof of the damaged one

3. When they refuse, get your lawyer to send the same request certified mail

4. When they officially refuse, sue in small claims and they'll get it tossed out since "you bought it" (hopefully)

5. Tuck this in your back pocket and start archiving and making them re-playable galore

6. When publisher X who told you it was a sale sues for "hacking" go to court for a summary dismissal based on the previous court case where they argued "hey you bought it!" and a judge might have no choice but to agree

I'm sure it wouldn't work, but it'd be nice!

In this scenario the game disc can still constitute a license, not the actual game. The contents of the disc would simply be a convenient installation method.

Sure, but if it's a license then the disc is only of marginal value and they should replace it for cheap/free since the LICENSE is what constituted most of the cost, not the PHYSICAL MEDIA.

Ideas like this make me want to study law. Not to be a lawyer, anymore than I study programming to be a programmer, but to get interesting things done.

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