#Gradekeeper license software
#Gradekeeper license license

Thus, ProCD successfully argued their SelectPhone database was protected by the shrink-wrap license attached to the product. The United States District Court held that buyers did not have to obey the terms of shrink-wrap licenses, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found that unless the terms of the license are unconscionable, or otherwise excused by contract law, and these terms were not, then the buyer was required to honor the terms of the license.

#Gradekeeper license software

for violation of the licensing agreement that barred Zeidenberg from making commercial use of the software he had purchased. ProCD sued Zeidenberg and Silken Mountain Web Services, Inc. to sell the information compiled by ProCD at a cheaper price. ProCD argued that Zeidenberg ignored the shrink-wrap license attached to his copy of the software when he started Silken Mountain Web Services, Inc. Zeidenberg felt that he had not violated the licensing agreement because he had not used the copyrighted software that came with ProCD’s Select Phone database. Zeidenberg did not use the search engine created by ProCD, but created his own search engine for use with the data he had selected.

Zeidenberg used the data from Select Phone and another database called Phonedisc to create his own database that he uploaded to the Internet.

ProCD spent $10 million compiling contact information from over 3,000 telephone directories across the United States with the goal of selling commercial copies of the database for a price significantly higher than $150.

ProCD used this shrink-wrap license to bar the use of a personal copy of the database, like the one Zeidenberg had purchased, for commercial use. The copy Zeidenberg purchased came inside a shrink-wrapped plastic covering that contained a licensing agreement describing the manner in which the database could be used. Matthew Zeidenberg bought a personal copy of ProCD’s Select Phone database for around $150.

Open Source as an Alternative to Expansive Copyright Protection.She graciously consented to provide this article to help mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of this journal.Īssociate Professor of Political Science, Otterbein CollegeĬomputer software law and legislation United States (Other articles) The Open Source Alternative: Shrink-Wrap, Open Source and CopyrightĮditors’ Note: The author, Debora Halbert, was a contributor to the first volume of E Law which appeared in 1993-4. E LAW | The Open Source Alternative: Shrink-Wrap, Open Source and CopyrightĮ LAW | Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law - Copyright Policy FORMAT: