I am not one for legal battles, but some companies need to bring legal actions against eBay for their blatant disregard for copyrights.  Every day there are hundreds of listings on eBay with pirated, demo promo or “Not for resale” software.  Even when you report it, days later the listings are still going and more and more of this junk is sold.

Here are a couple examples:

(1)

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard (New Sealed) for and SQL Server 2008 Developer only $99

The Standard version by itself is around $250.  So how is this so cheap?  It is a “Not for resale” promo version.  Yes, it is being resold…

(2)

At this moment there are five Windows 7 Ultimate MS Launch party event kits listed on eBay, ranging from $51 to $199.  These too are “Not for Resale”.

Prior to the launch of Windows 7, people could sign up and agree to host a party showing off Windows 7 to people they know and receive a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate along with some other stuff for the party. 

(3)

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (New Sealed) for $99

These are one year evaluation versions, only supposed to be used for evaluating if the OS will fit your needs and not for production use.  Here is a quote from the listing:

“This is promotional software. It is licensed for you to use for 365 days. But the software will not deactivate or uninstall after this term is completed. You must at that time acquire a new license or use the software without license. This is your choice.”

How about this for a comment to a question asked in the listing:

Q:  I bought 10 copies from you previously. How many copies do you have left?
A: 500-600, how many do you need?

Of course, these items are all marked “Not for Resale” also!!

This eBayer who listed this has a rating over 4,000, he has been doing this for a while!

(4)

Check the listings for computers, desktop or laptop.  Many of them do not have COA for the OS, so people are buying them with pirated OS’s (and often other pirated software).  If eBay would simply enact a requirement to provide certification for OS that is installed, it would eliminate the problem and give the buyer some fire power against them if they did not have a legal OS on the machine when they received it.

Conclusion:

I guess this world is getting so corrupt that open piracy is just the norm, even for multi-billion dollar companies who make money on every pirated copy.

You might ask, so what is the harm?  Well, everyone out there that has legit copies of the software get hosed because of the cheap pirated  stuff. 

For computer purchases, when you buy a computer with a pirated copy of the OS, then you are out a hundred dollars or more because the seller was a pirate.  Most sellers won’t take them back and give you a refund, you just get soaked.  This hurts those that want to sell legit systems since they have to compete with a lower price of the pirated ones or that people will not want to chance a pirated OS and not buy anything from eBay.

Oh well, enough complaining for today, just goes to show the status of our current godless society.