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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!garnet.bmr.gov.au!como.dpie.gov.au!news.gan.net.au!act.news.telstra.net!vic.news.telstra.net!news.mira.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!news.kei.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!nwnews.wa.com!news1.halcyon.com!coho!tzs From: tzs@coho.halcyon.com (Tim Smith) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Why to not buy Matrox Millennium Date: 27 Mar 1996 04:40:55 GMT Organization: Northwest Nexus, Inc. - Professional Internet Services Lines: 18 Message-ID: <4jagsn$6bo@news1.halcyon.com> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j7dg2$t3t@moacs11.moacs.indiv.nl.net> <4j8s8a$q8b@newstand.syr.edu> <4j93n1$4jj@solaris.cc.vt.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:13769 comp.os.linux.development.system:20178 comp.os.linux.x:27849 comp.os.linux.hardware:34615 comp.os.linux.setup:47647 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:331 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2829 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2610 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:16168 In article <4j93n1$4jj@solaris.cc.vt.edu>, <erik@fenris.campus.vt.edu> wrote: >Shrinkwrap contracts are not enforceable. For the most part, probably correct. >Not to mention reverse engineering is fair-use, as per copyright law, so >a contract -can-not- forbid this. However, this part is just plain wrong. Assuming for the sake of argument that reverse engineering is fair use (a more accurate statement would be that it *can* *be* fair use, and in the Matrox case, based on the facts presented so far, probably would be), that doesn't mean that a contract could not forbid it. Giving up the right to do something that you are otherwise legally entitled to do, in fact, is one of the classic things you can do in a contract as consideration for what you receive from the other side. --Tim Smith