One of the puzzling things about sneakwrap licenses is that so many software companies try to keep them secret until after the user purchases the product. So let's see if, with just few clues, you can solve this whodunit: which major software publisher (Company X) uses the following terms on one of its flagship products (Product X)?
Thinking it might be a good candidate for my proposed EULA product comparisons, a reader recently sent me Company X's license. Looking it over, I found a number of terms I thought unusually harsh, such as this one:
"The Agreement and the licenses granted hereunder shall terminate without further notice or action by (Company X) if You become bankrupt or insolvent, make an arrangement with Your creditors or go into liquidation."
So if you experience financial difficulties, you lose what was supposed to be a perpetual license. Gee, how fair is that? But there were some other interesting provisions in the sneakwrap license for Product X. Above and beyond the normal export restrictions, for example, Company X said its product could not be used outside of the country in which it was acquired. Customers could be audited for license compliance in person or electronically. And you had to agree that "activation security mechanisms" in the code could disable the software if you did anything they didn't like.
Interestingly, though, Company X had a few terms that were -- relatively speaking, of course -- fairly reasonable. A limited warrant that says the software will provide the features and functions described in the documentation is decent, assuming the product actually comes with documentation. And it's also nice the terms specifically allow the same user to install the software on a second system like a notebook, assuming the "activation security mechanisms" physically allow the user to do so.
All in all, an interesting EULA, and a very good candidate for our first formal review. But one problem was that, when I went to Company X's website to confirm this was indeed their license agreement, it was nowhere to be found. And I mean nowhere -- Googling strings of text from the EULA didn't turn it up even on a college or overseas distributor's website. Of course, it's all too common for software companies to not publish their license agreements, but it is unusual that the terms don't show up anywhere on the web.
To make sure this wasn't just an oversight, I called Company X as a potential customer interested in seeing their license agreement before I buy. Could they tell me where I could see it, or could they send it to me? Nope. First you have to put down your money; only then do you get to see the terms of the deal.
To confirm my reader hadn't made the whole thing up, I then called Company X's public relations department as myself and asked if they could send me the current EULA for Product X. Not your typical press inquiry, so it took them a few days, but they did send it to me. And it was the same as my reader had sent.
So who is Company X? Well, I want you to tell me. Yes, you're unlikely to figure it out if you don't happen to have Product X in your office, but take a look at the EULAs of the products you do have. Are they also ones that might be worthy of exposure to a little critical review? As I've said before, my readers are going to have to be our EULA staff reviewers, and Company X's EULA shows why. We can't review what's not there to be seen.
If you do find the EULA for Product X, write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com or, better yet, post your discovery at www.gripelog.com. And don't just tell us who it is - give us your quick review of Company X's EULA. After all, the real mystery here is not which particular company is responsible for this particular sneakwrap license, but why so many software companies try to hide their terms, and why we let them get away with it.
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