[jcl]

To be fair, the Autodesk case was a little more complicated than the Slashdot summary makes it sound. A company bought Autodesk's software, then they later bought an upgrade at a discount and sold the original software to a reseller.

In other words, they wanted to be both a software owner (so that they could sell the original software) and a licensee (so that they could get upgrade discounts). This seems to me like an abuse of the system... although I'm not sure I like the way the court has resolved it, either.

[omergertel]

I must admit I haven't read any deeper, so you may be right. I think, however, that if you combine the rulings over time, you will notice that the spirit of the law, as it is interpreted by the courts is in favor of the copyright owner. And the copyright owners are not in the business of being reasonable.

As Larry Lessig points out, common sense is a rare idea in the practice of law.