Pirate

It's pirated.

I "won" one of these auctions for Acid a few years ago for $50 and had to download everything. It came with a serial number generator. The program did work (it was fully functional) but it said specifically that the program was not upgradeable. Hmmm...wonder why?

Of course you don't know that until you've "won" the auction.

Live and learn I guess.

DRF

it's over $25. if you get screwed & pay via paypal then get your money back. Or better yet ask if these are serial #'s from sony. Ask how long you haveto wait for them to transfer the #'s to your name via sony.

some people just want to get rid of their old software. Buying it via download means you get no physicsal media but this one has a shipping charge so he hasto send you something.

I'd bet on pirated, if you look at his other auctions, he's sold quite a few copies of the same thing.

I bought my first copy of Sony Vegas Studio 4 on eBay for $30, I didn't realize until months later after I upgraded to Studio 6 and looking at both discs that the eBay version was a fake.

And yes, I did actually use the SN#'s from my eBay'd version to upgrade through Sony's website to get Studio 6.

if that SN worked it's possible he just burned the install file on to the CD. Or he ownes ones retail copy & instead of burning a single exe to a CD he made a copy & provided you with a legit serial. I don't belive that's illegal... the SN is what matters here.

Ask him lots of questions before buying!
Pay through PayPal if possible. They will make it a little easier (but not easy) for you to get your money back if what arrives is NOT what was promised.

Although I think going into this one... it's pretty apparent what you're getting yourself into.

Kind of funny, friend of mine advertised a cigarette lighter on eBay, one he'd bought on eBay originally but from overseas. He gets a very nasty sounding email telling him this isn't a genuine Zippo and he has to remove the item from auction. Even trying to auction it as a "Zippo Look Alike" isn't allowed as it has a Coco Cola logo on it which is a breach of Trademarks!

Pirated software worth $100s or $1000s is OK though, go figure.

Bob.

i don't know how that's illegal... I've dealt with crooks on e-bay once or twice & I always get the "oh... they canceled their CC. You're SOL. Don't woory though, we got our seller fees from them!"

I am an avid e-bay buyer & sell sometimes. Many times I sell things that someone could think are a rip-off but aren't. i'd say give it a chance. If it turns out to be bogus, contact e-bay, paypal (pay from your CC. Then if paypal refuses to give you your $$ back complain to the CC company), & Sony. They've got deep pockets. They could take a bad egg out (and if they don't they're PROMOTING piracy as far as I'm concerned).

the guy/girl downloads a keygenerator, take a about 2 minutes to find, downloads the software from the sony site and sells. Simple,illegal and stupid, on the sellers part ,the buyers part, and sonys part.

that's why questions should be asked.

Thanks for the input. I asked him several of these questions, but his answer just repeats what he says in the listing; that the buyer can't update through Sony, that he will provide a year's worth of updates. No explanations of any sort.

I'd bet on pirated, if you look at his other auctions, he's sold quite a few copies of the same thing.

When a seller has a ton of the same software for a fraction of what it's worth, you can bet it's pirated.

Check out this guys recent selling history, you'll see.

that mean's it's pirated. Go tell sony. get that bastart SOB off e-bay & in jail.

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/corporate/contact.asp?id=32

I'd say thar be a good chance this guy be a pirate.

Even trying to auction it as a "Zippo Look Alike" isn't allowed as it has a Coco Cola logo on it which is a breach of Trademarks!

Did eBay actually say that you couldn't sell an object because it had a Coca-Cola logo on it?

This implies I couldn't sell my used Nikon camera without scraping off the logo first...

I think this is a slightly different situation. If your camera is actually a Nikon, then having the Nikon logo on it is OK. Is the camera is actually a no-name replica, then having the Nikon logo is in fact illegal. There is a legal and ethical difference between selling authentic used merchandise and selling new or used counterfeit merchandise.

You could report this person to eBay as a pirate and they will, most likely, revoke his userid and cancel all his auctions. If you tell Sony they will probably do nothing since it’s too small an operation to worry about. eBay is pretty good about getting rid of these guys once reported (but you could make a career out of doing that).

~jr

You could report this person to eBay as a pirate and they will, most likely, revoke his userid and cancel all his auctions. If you tell Sony they will probably do nothing since it’s too small an operation to worry about. eBay is pretty good about getting rid of these guys once reported (but you could make a career out of doing that).

Or, you could do nothing and wait a few weeks for him to leave on his own, which is what these pirates do.

By the time I realized my software was a pirated version, the eBay seller was "no longer registered", or something like that.

Not that I'm saying not to report him, I'm just saying they end up leaving (and coming back under a new identity) anyway.

Thanks. Well, I notified ebay and Sony. We'll see what happens.

Notifying ebay directly won't do any good.

Their policy is that ONLY the actual owner of the copyrighted material can lodge a complaint. I've tried repeatedly to get obviously pirated material flagged as such and have been rebuffed by ebay reps.

So, the best you can do is notify Sony and let them deal with it as they deem appropriate...

> Notifying ebay directly won't do any good. Their policy is that ONLY the actual owner of the copyrighted material can lodge a complaint. I've tried repeatedly to get obviously pirated material flagged as such and have been rebuffed by ebay reps.

Wow. That has not been my experience. This is not about copyrighted ownership. This is a direct violation of eBay policy not to sell pirated software.

Go to eBay.com and click on the Help link. Then select Rules about Intellectual Property and then on Replica, Counterfeit Items and Unauthorized Copies. It clearly states:

Counterfeits, unauthorized replicas, unauthorized items (such as counterfeit watches, handbags, or other accessories) or unauthorized copies (such as copies of software programs, video games, music albums, movies, television programs, or photographs) are not permitted on eBay. Unauthorized copies include (but are not limited to) copies that are pirated, duplicated, backed-up or bootlegged. It is illegal to sell unauthorized copies of media.

You can report any violation of eBay rules and don’t have to be involved in the auction. They don’t always answer your emails but if you keep a link to the auction, you will usually see it has been pulled and the seller is no longer registered.

~jr

> Wow. That has not been my experience. This is not about copyrighted ownership. This is a direct violation of eBay policy not to sell pirated software.

You're right in that ebay's policy is to not allow pirating of any item (software, music, publications, etc.) -- BUT -- They told me that I can't complain about an item being sold unless it's my intellectual property, and that I can prove that I own the rights to it. At least that's what ebay told me when I reported a guy selling a whole bunch of Adobe products (I think it was over 100 listings).

I reported a few of the auctions and ebay responded in a very snippy email, that while they appreciate my concerns, they cannot remove a listing simply on my say-so. They suggested that I contact Adobe and report the issues I thought were present in the auction(s) in question and that only if Adobe contacted ebay would they research the validity of the items being sold.

The following is from ebay about reporting copyright issues:

"Unfortunately, if you are not an intellectual property rights owner you cannot report listings as potentially infringing through eBay's VeRO Program.

However, you can still help by getting in touch with the rights owner and encouraging them to contact us."

Here is a link to ebay's policy on this subject (ebay calls it "VeRO Program (intellectual property owners only)"

Jim