Stellarium for sale

[spaceboy]

I know this isn't the first time this has been discussed and yes I know some people should know better to search a product before purchasing and others have a phobia regards downloading software so would rather have a physical disc but do these guy have the legal rights to sell  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STAR-GAZING-ASTRONOMY-ASTRONOMER-NEW-SOFTWARE-PROGRAM/121011014180?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D29975%26meid%3Da5741bfbbddc461c8c2c6dc51f33ea33%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D271113708331&rt=nc what is technically someone property which they offered as freeware or is it because the ebay member copied it to disc that they are able to sell what is free ? And surely this would be some sort of copy right infringement anyway ??

[DaveS]

Looks very dodgy to me, I think they're laying themselves open to a lawsuit for copyright infringement at the very least.

Also looks like some mugs have bitten already

[Cornelius Varley]

Stellarium is a free open source program and as such does not have a copyright. You might not agree with the ethics of selling a cd containing a free program but it is not illegal to do so.

[DaveS]

Ah, right. Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was freeware / shareware and as such had restriction on resale etc.

[wxsatuser]

Not an expert but I believe Stellarium is GNU GPL v2, Public Domain, so my be ok.

opps a bit to late.

[beamer3.6m]

Technically you could argue that they are charging for the disc.

Like in a pub where they charge you 20p for tap water. Its not the water they are charging for as not allowed but the use of the glass.

[ronin]

Not sure but I suspect that normally Stellarium is not available on a CD, so anyone without an internet connection cannot get/download a copy.

They are then copying it to a disc and mailing it to you (whereever) and so providing a service for which they charge.

Do not assume that everyone everywhere has a broadband internet access.

Suspect you did not 10 years ago, maybe not 5 years ago.

[Alien 13]

Not sure but I suspect that normally Stellarium is not available on a CD, so anyone without an internet connection cannot get/download a copy.

They are then copying it to a disc and mailing it to you (whereever) and so providing a service for which they charge.

Do not assume that everyone everywhere has a broadband internet access.

Suspect you did not 10 years ago, maybe not 5 years ago.

Tis true I run a payg dongle and limited to about 250Mb per week so lots of sortware/updates are out of bounds unless I can get hold of the disc.

Alan

[Tinker1947]

They do appear to have put there own name on the software, that seems like a infringement....??

[Jonk]

If it's open source, you can change parts of the software as long as the original code and public licence details are included.

If nothing's changed, they can charge for the disc, delivery etc. but can charge for the software if part of a bundle for example.

http://opensource.org/osd

[Davey-T]

In the "good old days" you could buy floppy discs of freeware / shareware  at computer fairs so I guess it's the modern version of this.

Dave

[StuartJPP]

Not a bad business model judging from their sales...bad ethics but typical of most businesses these days...

[Dave_D]

not only stellarium...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/MT-Software-Solutions-BEWARE-/10000000017347343/g.html

[Moonshane]

I can't really see the problem. Yes, they are offering something that's freely available but in a different format that takes (OK only a little) work to produce and send. Water in mountain springs is freely available but to collect it en masse, bottle and distribute costs a fair bit and results in a bottle of water for about 70p-whatever mugs are willing to pay. They don't seem to be breaking the self imposed rules of the license holders. If they are happy then maybe we shouldn't worry either.

[Stub Mandrel]

Stellarium is under the GPL V.2 which means that people can charge for copying and distributing it, subject to certain conditions.

The same applies if they modify it.

£5.99 is unlikely to be seen as excessive for providing a 'proper' CD + warranty.

So it may be legit, in strict terms.

[JamesF]

Stellarium is a free open source program and as such does not have a copyright. You might not agree with the ethics of selling a cd containing a free program but it is not illegal to do so.

Strictly speaking it is subject to copyright.  However, the licence under which it is distributed allows anyone to redistribute it (whether that's for free or for money) as long as they meet the other terms of the licence which in this case (amongst other things) requires that they don't change the rights afforded to others from those they have themselves.  So as long as the vendor doesn't say something such as "you can't give this away (or sell copies of it) yourself" to the purchaser then it's perfectly legal.  People who distribute under such a licence do fully understand what they're doing, so whilst it may seem a bit odd that someone with access to ebay should prefer to buy a copy on some media rather than download it there's nothing wrong with it.

What does seem open to interpretation in this case and perhaps a little iffy is their assertion "This item is copyrighted. Any reproduction, duplication or resale of this CD-ROM is prohibited.".  That may apply to the CD as a whole as a collection of software, but I don't see how it can apply to the individual packages because that would appear to break the terms of their own licence.

James

[MattJenko]

They offer support for it as well as part of this offer, which may well make them similar to Linux distro companies. It does strike me as a bit sketchy and underhand though.