EULA's - Enforcable, or an Annoyance?

[BCan]

Contrary to the belief of many, the EULA you see on all software is worth about as much as the paper it is written on. At least at the moment that is the case.

Anyone care to debate or make their comments about these things that we see on a regular basis with software....

IMHO I think that legally they are unenforcable, not just because I think that it is the case, but it tends to go in the face of legal precedent about contracts and torts..
A contract is complete when the sale is made, not when the software is installed. Installation is a method of delivery, allowing you to use the legally purchased product, not a place to give a EULA changing the already completed contract...

I don't see cars having a disclaimer in the manual that all legal responsibility of the manufacturer is waived in the case of an accident, or mechanical failure. That is about what it equates to.

[KnightX]

The main point of the EULA is to prevent piracy - and no, it's really not enforceable. I can't say that it's an annoyance, since if you pay for the game / music CD or whatever you're really taking money away from the companies by distributing the thing freely. If XBOX games were highly copied and distributed, games like Splinter Cell and Halo would be hurting in the ratings (not in how we rate them, but in how the companies see the sales going) and therefore, we probably wouldn't be seeing a Halo 2.

Look at Napster, Morpheus, Kazaa, any of those P2P trading programs. Stuff runs rampant on there and noone can enforce it. You can download N64 games and play them on your PC!

I don't think EULA's are enforceable - but I think console manufacturers are doing a good job of enforcing it by making so you have to have MOD chips and such to play a pirated game (or one bought in a different region).

[Insane Jester]

which law ever works though ??

[darianX]

Please, don't let this forum turn into another slashdot..........kill it quick!