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[rastachucker]

This may sound like a simple question. Yet I always wondered why it is legal to buy used games when no money goes to the people who made the games only to those who sell them. I believe that this is same gripe the gaming companies have with people being able to illegally download software from the internet because the people who should be profiting from there product are not. At least for me it has always begged the question of why I should spend money on a used game when I only putting money in the pocket of the seller and instead of just downloading old games from the internet. I think if it where possible to give money to the companies for the games of yesterday I would do it gladly. Since I cannot why should it be illegal to download them? Also with the esa still saying no to certain games still being released on sites like this because who ever still holds the rights to the game does not want to give it up but the only way to find the game is used and still used is not giving any money to the people who hold the rights to the game.

Now I am not advocating for piracy I just think that it does not make any sense to say it is wrong to download a game that you have not paid for because no money is going to the makers of the game and it is ok to buy a used game where the money is only going to the seller and not the creator of the game.Ok so that is the question or questions so I would love to hear your responses. Thank you.

[Professor Oak]

It's the same with any other commodity such as a car, once it is yours, you can do whatever you wish with it. More likely than not, you will most likely sell it on or trade it in to get a better method of transportation.

[Mighty Midget]

Well, there are different sellers. There are those who have a (perhaps) pirated version and who charge people for d/l and those who have legit copies, either used or new, who sell these for profits.

These two should be considered differently. As for the latter one, think of garage sales. You can buy a discontinued lamp on a garage sale and no money go to the manufacturer, and you won't think twice about that. For the former: Someone sell stolen lamps... well, chances are someone will call the coppers.

Selling discontinued software isn't much different. Some are making an honest living of selling new or 2nd hand software which they might very well had to pay for to get, others are selling stolen goods.

[DarthHelmet86]

Stores that actually sell games need a license to sell games that are pre-owned, the company the made the game has already gotten it's money from the game when it was first sold. The store makes more money selling games that are pre-owned but have to offer a fair price when they buy it, what the sell it for is up to them.

This is the same with video stores (when I worked at one videos where important now they aren't) they pay more for the video (it used to be close to 400 Australian dollars at one time.) then rent it out to make that money back, thus paying the company that made it for any lost sales, after they had made back the money the rental of that video was profit, same if they then went on to sell it as a pre-owned video.

As a final note, selling pre-owned games at a licensed store does not affect the money that a company sees from their games, and is legal. Buying it from the guy in the back of the van does affect the sales, and is illegal.

[_r.u.s.s.]

it's funny how some people compare downloading to `stealing`. as for stealing you must take something that belongs to someone else, while with sharing you copy something that someone else has

people will always be borrowing games to friends, copying some study notes, which you could have bought somewhere, or sharing the soft that you just got. companies that get pissed off by this need to find a new business model

back in the days `pirates` were people who copied books and spread knowledge across countries

[Japo]

Just to clarify, in principle it's legal if the licence agreement allows it. The licence agreement is the contract you implicitly sign when you click on "Yes/I agree" while installing the software. A licence agreement could include a clause of non-transferability, prohibiting you from re-selling the licence. Most actually include a clause of transferability, allowing you to re-sell the licence with conditions--to a single person--and of course if you sell your licence you'll no longer have licence to use the software.

Software is different from other goods, usually it's never sold itself, the only thing you can buy is a licence (permission granted by the owner) to use the software; but the software itself remains the property of the party that grants you the licence. This is because if they sold the software itself entirely, they would have no legal device to prevent you from doing anything you fancy, for example copying it.

Even "open" licences reserve the ownership of the software for the author, to impose conditions on the distribution. In open licences distribution is "free" to multiple persons, only if you adhere to those conditions.