[User23]

Once you’ve lawfully obtained code you don’t need a license to run it in the USA. The Copyright Act explicitly gives you the right to make additional copies necessary (like loading into memory) to execute it so no license is required to run it.

Much like most lease agreements that are full of illegal or inoperative clauses, EULAs are largely a bluff backed not by the law but the other party’s ignorance and the threat of a ruinous lawsuit. The process is the punishment.

Of course once you want to redistribute or create derivative works you need additional permission.

[frognumber]

It's more complex. EULAs /were/ a bluff when originally created, and would never have stood up in a 1990-era court. In 2020, it's more complex. Courts try not to disrupt the status quo. After 3 decades of industry practice, failing to enforce an EULA would do that. Ergo, recent Courts have often upheld EULAs as contracts...

https://toslawyer.com/are-end-user-license-agreements-enforc...

https://www.mertzel-law.com/post/click-here-are-your-eula-an...

But not all EULAs.