CDs and the rights thereto

Mike Ford wrote: In the US? If so, you bought them, and you have a legal right to sell them. This isn't even subject to any sort of license; the ownership of the physical media is completely clear-cut. The manufacturer has no right to control your sale of the media in any way, except by asserting that the physical media has been stolen (physical item theft, not "software piracy"), or that the media was in fact produced without their authorization. Another way to look at it: what if you had bought a lot at an auction, then discovered that it happened to contain a bunch of books, perhaps the latest Stephen King novel? Could you sell those? Of course! The case with software is similar, although there is a law prohibiting software rental [*]. However, you (or any party to whom you sell the media) might or might not have any right to *use* the software. This hinges on whether you can run the software from CD or must first copy it to a hard drive, whether such copying is infringement (possibly not as it may be fair use), and whether making a transient copy of the software in the RAM of the computer is infringement. As I understand it, there is conflicting case law on these issues. However, IANAL so YMMV. Eric [*] The prohibition on software rental was strongly pushed by the publishers of video game cartridges. The law was passed, but ironically video game cartridges are exempted and may be rented!